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Book • 

PRESENTl 




!t- 



THE ART 



OF 



PRACTICAL WHIST 

BEIXG 

A SERIES OF LETTERS DESCRIPTIVE OF EVERY PART 

OF THE GAME, AND THE BEST METHOD OF 

BECOMING A SKILFUL PLAYER 



K/ 



Col. Av W. DRAYSON, R.A., F.R.A.S. 



•* 



33eMratrfr, b$ ^txmission, 

TO 

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
THE DUKE OF CONN AUGHT, 

E.G., &c. &c. 



NEW YORK 

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 

416 broome street 

London : Broadway, Ludgate 

1879 



PEEFACE. 



It is not unusual to offer an apology for writing 
a book, more especially when the subject treated 
on is one which has already been ably written 
about by other authors. I however offer no 
apology, because the interest which is deservedly 
taken in Whist is so great, and so widely spread, 
that it is difficult to write too much on this game, 
for anything either new or old (if put into a novel 
form) must have its attractions. 

There are at the present time many valuable 
works on Whist, amongst which the most able are 
probably : 

The Laws of Short Whist ; 

Cavendish on Whist ; 

The Theory of Whist ; 

The Correct Card, etc. 



iv Preface. 

In spite of these and other books on the same 
subject being available and often read by would- 
be whist players, yet the number of good whist 
players is limited, the number of very bad players 
is legion. The causes which prevent men from 
becoming good players are simple, and I believe 
the defect is easily remedied. And it is mainly 
to correct those errors which indicate the bad 
player, that the following letters are written. 

March, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



LETTER I. 

PAGE 

LAWS OF SHORT WHIST 1 



LETTER IT. 

HOW TO LEARN WHIST . . . . .45 

LETTER III. 

WATCHING THE GAME 52 

LETTER IV. 

WHIST MEMORY. —THE LEAD 59 

LETTER V. 
the lead — continued 76 

LETTER VI. 

return leads 82 



vi Contents. 



LETTER VIL 

PAGE 

PLAY SECOND HAND 90 



LETTER VIII. 

PLAY THIRD HANP 95 

LETTER IX. 
PLAY FOURTH HAND 99 

LETTER X. 

TRUMPS, THEIR USE AND ABUSE . . . .110 

LETTER XI. 

ASKING FOR TRUMPS. — THE ECHO . . . .119 

LETTER XII. 

FINESSING ... ' 128 

LETTER XIII. 

false cards. — the discard. — underplay. —play 

of 12th and 13th card 133 

LETTER XIV. 
RULES AND REASON.— COUPS 148 



Contents. vii 



LETTER XV. 

PAGE 

YOUR PARTNER 163 



LETTER XVI. 

WHAT TO LEARN 172 

LETTER XVII. 

THE PLAY OP A GAME OP WHIST . . . .174 

LETTER XVIII. 

CASES RELATIVE TO THE LAWS OF WHIST . . 187 



INDEX TO LAWS. 



Calling- for now cards 
Cards liable to be called 
played in error 

detached 

exposed 

marked 

trump 

Claim for offences 
Catting . 

Deal .... 



, mis . 

, new ..... 

Detached card .... 
Dummy ..... 

Entry 

Exposed card .... 

Formation of table 

Highest card, when it can be called 

Honours scoring .... 

Lead, when it can be called 
Revoke ... ... 

Shuffling ..... 

"Win or not win trick 



Page 43 



RULE 

83 
56 

60 
56 
90 
52 
87 
13 
33 
44 
87 
60 

21 

50 
16 
70 



CASE 

1 £ 7 

11 
2 

25 



13 

22 
26 



6 & 7 10 & 11 
60 

71 4 & 8 
26 
68 21 



THE 



ART OF PRACTICAL WHIST. 



LETTER I. 

THE LAWS OF SHORT WHIST. 

Before venturing to join a game of whist you 
should study well the rules. You can cross- 
examine yourself as regards your knowledge of 
these rules, and if you do not play whist regularly, 
it is as well to refresh your memory occasionally 
by looking over the laws, and also by imagining 
cases which may occur, and then referring to 
those laws which bear upon them. 

The laws of whist, like all other laws, are for 
the purpose of maintaining order. They should 
be rigidly carried out, and when an offence has 
been committed, the penalty should be exacted. 

There is no proceeding more likely to cause 
disputes, than that of letting off an offender who 
commits an error for which a penalty has been 
provided by the laws. Immediately the adver- 



2 The Art of Practical IV hist. 

Banes commit perhaps a greater error, and a pen- 
alty is enacted, it is considered a hard case — and 
it is often urged that "We did not claim a penalty 
from you, so it's hard for you now to punish us : " 
such proceedings are childish, and to play whist 
the laws must he firmly and impartially enacted. 
It is the most certain method to avoid disputes, 
for it does away with air partiality, and even 
though the game may be played for mere amuse- 

CT O tit 

ment without any stakes depending thereon, yet to 
play it otherwise than strictly is a great mistake. 

If whist were a mere pastime it never would 
have occupied the position, or the attention of in- 
telligent men that it now does. AYhist, although 
a pastime and tending to increase social inter- 
course, is vet something more. It brings into ac- 
tion faculties of memory, observation, judgment, 
patience, and knowledge of character, all of which 
are necessary as means of success in the world ; 
thus whist, like some branches of mathemat: 
although not practically useful in everyday life, 
yet calls into action those mental qualities which 
every observing and reasoning person ought top 
sess. It also has the advantage of being a game that 
can be played up t< > an advanced period of life, when 
more active pursuits cannot be carried on, or when 
the sight and the muscles have lost their power. 



The Rub be i' and Scoring. 



To learn then the laws of the game is essential, 
and to know the exact penalty that ought to be 
claimed is of course the same thins as knowing 
the laws. To dispute about a penalty that ought 
fairly to be claimed, is an indication of an igno- 
rant and litigious disputant, and to avoid such a 
position you must thoroughly know the laws. 

The following are the Laws of Whist in the 
Club Code, and published in Laws of Short 
Whist, Cavendish on Whist, etc. 

The notes are by the Author. 

The Rubber. 

1. The rubber is the best of three games. If the 

first two games be won by the same players, 
the third game is not played. 

Scoring. 

2. A game consists of five points. Each trick 

above six counts one point. 

3. Honours, that is ace, king, queen and knave of 

trumps are thus reckoned. 

If a player and his partner either separately or 
conjointly hold : 



4 The Art of Practical IV hist. 

I. The four honours, they score four 

points. 
II. Any three honours, they score two 

points. 
III. Only two honours, they do not 
score. 

4. Those players who at the commencement of 

the deal are at the score of four, cannot 
score honours. 

5. The penalty for a revoke takes precedence of 

all other scores. Tricks count next, honours 
last. 
G. Honours, unless claimed before the trump card 
of the following deal is turned up, cannot 
be scored. 

Note. — The trum/p card must he turned up and 
quitted, to deprive the claimants of their right to 
score honours. 

7. To score honours is not sufficient ; they must 

be called at the end of the hand ; if so 
called, they may be scored at any time dur- 
ing the game. 

8. The winners gain 

I. A treble, or game of three points, 
when their adversaries have not 
scored. 



Scaring. 5 

II. A double, or game of two points, 
when their adversaries have scored 
less than three. 
III. A single, or game of one point, 
when their adversaries have scored 
three or four. 

9. The winners of the rubber gain two points, 

commonly called the rubber points, in ad- 
dition to the value of their games. 

10. Should the rubber have consisted of three 

games, the value of the loser's game is de- 
ducted from the gross number of points 
gained by their opponents. 

11. If an erroneous score be proved, such mistake 

can be corrected prior to the conclusion of 
the game in which it occurred, and such 
game is not concluded until the trump card 
of the following deal has been turned up. 

12. If an erroneous score affecting the amount of 

the rubber be proved, such mistake can be 
rectified at any time during the rubber. 

Notes on Scoring. 

It is essential that the score should be carefully 
kept in two ways : — 

First, that the tricks should be taken up and 
packed neatly, so that your partner should at a 



6 The Art of Practical Whist. 

glance perceive how many tricks have been won. 
He can then know, at once, how many tricks are 
required to save or win the game. The slovenly 
manner in which tricks are sometimes packed, is 
a fruitful cause of error and dispute. 

Secondly, — If you use counters for scoring, 
those counters which indicate the trebles, singles, 
&c, should be of a different shape or colour from 
those which note the score of the game. Each 
player who scores his points should score to his 
right hand. Thus A. and B.'s score will never 
be mistaken for their opponents' score. These 
apparently trifling matters should be attended to, 
and they soon become systematic, and prevent 
any possibility of a dispute. 

Cutting. 

13. The ace is the lowest card. 

14. In all cases everyone must cut from the same 

pack. 

15. Should a player expose more than one card, 

he must cut again. 

Formation of the Table. 

16. If there are more than four candidates the 

players are selected by cutting ; those first in 



Formation of Table. 7 

the room having the preference. The four 
who cut the lowest cards play first, and 
again cut to decide on partners : the two 
lowest play against the two highest ; the 
lowest is the dealer, who has choice of 
cards and seats, and having once made his 
selection must abide by it. 
17. Wlien there are more than six candidates 
those who cut the two next lowest cards be- 
long to the table, which is complete with 
six players. On the retirement of one of 
these six players the candidate who cut the 
next lowest card has a prior right to any 
after-comer to enter the table. 

Xote ox Formation of Table. — Legally a 
table is complete with sis players, but as a matter 
of courtesy, and when there appears a probability 
of one player having to sit out during a long 
iiiiig. the three outsiders by agreement cut to 
decide which two play the second rubber. T7<>: 
julayer who remains out tlien enters mi the third 
rubber, and the two who played the first hut not 
the second rubber cut to decide who plays the 
third rubber. Thus Urn only eider on each fresh 
rubber, and add % an opport unity of 

playing. 



8 The Art of Practical Whist. 

Cutting Cards of Equal Value. 

18. Two players cutting cards of equal value, 

unless such cards are the two highest, cut 
again ; should they be the two lowest, a 
fresh cut is necessary to decide which of the 
two deals. 

19. Three players cutting cards of equal value cut 

again. Should the fourth (or remaining) 
card be the highest, the two lowest of the 
new cut are partners, the lower of these two 
the dealer ; should the fourth card be the 
lowest, the two highest are partners, the 
original lowest the dealer. 

Xote. — As an illustration of the above, we will 
suppose the cuts to he ace and three sevens. The 
three sevens cut again, and the cards drawn are 
two, four, and king. The ace and two arepart- 
ners, and the ace deeds. Again, three sevens are 
drawn and a ten* the three sevens draw again, 
and the cards drawn are two, four, and king. 
The king and ten are partners, and the two deals 
and has choice of cards and scats. 

Although the term "cut" is used, it is usual to 
spread the jpaek out upon the table* and each player 
draws a card, that pack being used front which no 



Cutting Out and Roster. 



card has previously been drawn to decide any 
other selection or question. 

Cutting Out. 

20. At the end. of a rubber, should admission be 
claimed by any one or two candidates, he 
who has, or they who have, played a greater 
number of consecutive rubbers than the 
others is or are out ; but when all have 
played the same number, they must cut to 
decide upon the out-goers ; the highest are 
out. 

Xote. — In most cases, but particularly when the 
tal)le consists of five players, it is as ivell to write 
on paper the roster, so that it can le at once de- 
cided who is out : — 

A. 
B. 

a 

K 

are the players, and A. B. C. I), play first. The 
next player to come in is E., and the first player 
out decided by drawing toe will suptpose is B* A. 
C. and D. next draw, and A. is out, then C. and 



io The Art of Practical Whist. 

D. draw, and C. is out / the roster would then he 
as follows : 

K 

B. 

A. 

a 
&. 

D. goes out after the rubber into tvhich he has 
gained entrance by drawing with C. E B., A. 
and C.play a rubber, then E. goes out, then B., and 
so on. When a long evening's play occurs, this roster 
prevents any dispute as to whose turn it is to go out, 
and tohen no record is kept of the rubbers, it is 
often a fruitful cause of disputes to decide %ohose 
turn it is to quit the tahle. Every precaution ought to 
be used to prevent any cause for discussion at whist. 

Entry and Re-Entry. 

21. A candidate wishing to enter a table must 

declare such intention prior to any of the 
players having cut a card, either for the 
purpose of commencing a fresh rubber, or 
of cutting out. 

22. In the formation of fresh tables, those candi- 

dates who have neither belonged to nor 
played at any other table have the prior 



Shuffling. II 

right of entry ; the others decide their right 
of entry by cutting. 

23. Any one quitting a table prior to the conclu- 

sion of a rubber, may, with consent of the 
other three players, appoint a substitute in 
his absence during that rubber. 

24. A player cutting into one table, whilst belong- 

ing to another, loses his right of re-entry 
into that latter, and takes his chance of 
cutting in, as if he were a fresh candidate. 

25. If any one break up a table, the remaining 

players have the prior right to him of entry 
into any other, and should there not be 
sufficient vacancies at such other table to 
admit all those candidates, they settle their 
precedence by cutting. 

Shuffling. 

26. The pack must neither be shuffled below the 

table, nor so that the face of any card be 
seen. 

27. The pack must not be shuffled during the 

play of the hand. 

28. A pack, having been played with, must 

neither be shuffled, by dealing it into pack- 
ets, nor across the table. 



12 The Art of Practical Whist. 

29. Each player has a right to shuffle, once only, 

except as provided by Rule 32, prior to a 
deal, after a false cut, or when a new deal 
has occurred. 

30. The dealer's partner must collect the cards for 

the ensuing deal, and has the first right to 
shuffle that pack. 

31. Each player, after shuffling, must place the 

cards, properly collected and face clown- 
wards, to the left of the player about to deal. 

32. The dealer has always the right to shuffle 

last ; but should a card or cards be seen 
during his shuffling, or whilst giving the pack 
to be cut, he may be compelled to re-shuffle. 

Notes on Shuffling. 

When a new pack of cards is used, and the 
cover torn off, the ace of spades will usually be 
found at the bottom of the pack^ and the cards 
will be found arranged alternately red and black. 
Many players not having observed this fact, at- 
tempt to shuffle a new pack by dealing them in 
threes or fives — quite unaware that by so doing, 
they scarcely alter the first arrangement. In order 
to demonstrate this fact, we will refer to the cards 
as R. for red, B. for black, and deal them into three 



Shuffling. 13 

packs ; commencing on the left we should place a 
red card, in the middle a black ; to the right a 
red ; then on the first red we should place a 
black card, on the second card we should place a 
* red, on the third card a black, and so on. On 
taking up the three packets, we should find that 
the cards had not been altered, that the whole 
pack was arranged alternately reel and black, and 
if cut and dealt for whist, one player and his 
partner would hold nearly all the black cards, 
whilst the adversaries held nearly all the red 
cards. To deal out the pack into five packets 
produces similar results. To deal them in four 
packets, causes the black and red cards to be sorted 
into four lots, two of red, two of black, and is a 
better arrangement. But probably the best and 
quickest method of disarranging the pack is to 
place the top card in the right hand, the second 
card below this top card, the third card above the 
top card, and so go on through the whole pack, 
the black cards will then be nearly all massed to- 
gether, and the red cards similarly massed, and 
a little free shuffling will then prevent the long 
suits that are so often held in the first hands of 
the first deal with new cards. "We used the term 
" nearly" above, for the reason that in a new pack 
the cards are not wholly arranged black and red, 



14 The Art of Practical Whist. 

each thirteenth card usually breaking this order. 
To deal out the pack therefore in three or live 
packets is merely a waste of time, as it does not 
alter their order. The cards should be shuffled 
during the deal of the other pack, so as to be in 
readiness to be cut immediately the previous 
hand is played out. Some players have a bad 
habit of shuffling the cards for one or two minutes 
after the previous hand is played out, and thus 
waste much time unnecessarily. 

The Deal. 

33. Each player deals in his turn, the right of 

dealing goes to the left. 

34. The player on the dealer's right cuts the pack, 

and in dividing it must not leave fewer than 
four cards in either packet, if in cutting, or 
in replacing one of the two packets on the 
other, a card be exposed, or if there be any 
confusion of the cards, or a doubt as to the 
exact place in which the pack was divided, 
there must be a fresh cut. 

35. When a player whose duty it is to cut has 

once separated the pack, he cannot alter his 
intention ; he can neither re-shuffle nor re- 
cut the cards. 



The Deal and New Deal. 15 

36. "When the pack is cut, should the dealer 

shuffle the cards, he loses his deal. 

Note o^ - the Deal. — Some players take tip the 
cards sideways when they are cut, and thus expose 
the bottom or trump card before they commence 
their deed. This exposes them to a disadvantage. 
The adversary v:ho sees this card may by Law 3i 
claim afresh cut, or, if a card be turned up dur- 
ing the deal, he may claim a fresh deed or decline 
to do so, and his decision might possibly be guided 
according as the trump card is or is not a high 
card. If the pack when cut be united with one 
hand only and the pack be lifted horizontally, the 
bottom card cannot well be exposed. 

A New Deal. 

37. There must be a new deal by the same 

dealer : 

I. If during a deal or during the play 
of a hand the pack be proved in- 
correct or imperfect. 
II. If any card, excepting the last, be 
faced in the pack. 

38. If whilst dealing a card be exposed by the 

dealer or his partner, should neither of the 



1 6 The Art of Practical Whist. 

adversaries have touched the cards, the 
latter can claim a new deal; a card exposed 
by either adversary gives that claim to the 
dealer, provided that his partner has not 
touched a card ; if a new deal does not 
take place, the exposed card cannot be 
called. 

39. If during dealing a player touch any of his 

cards, the adversaries may do the same, 
without losing their privilege of claiming a 
new deal, should chance give them such 
option. 

40. If in dealing one of the last cards be exposed, 

and the dealer turn up the trump before 
there is reasonable time for his adversaries 
to decide as to a fresh deal, they do not 
thereby lose their privilege. 

41. If a player, whilst dealing, look at the trump 

card, his adversaries have a light to see it, 
and may exact a new deal. 

42. If a player take into the hand dealt to him 

a card belonging to the other pack, the 
adversaries, on discovery of the error, may 
decide whether they will have a fresh deal 
or not. 



A Misdeal. ij 



A Misdeal. 

43. A misdeal loses the deal. 
4:4:. It is a misdeal — 

I. Unless the cards are dealt into four 
packets, one at a time in regular 
rotation, beginning with the player 
to the dealer's left. 
II. Should the dealer place the last card 
(i.e., the trump), face downwards, 
on his own, or any other pack. 

III. Should the trump card not come in 

its regular order to the dealer ; 
but he does not lose his deal if 
the pack be proved imperfect. 

IV. Should a player have fourteen cards, 

and either of the other three less 
than thirteen. 
t V. Should the dealer, under an impres- 

sion that he has made a mistake, 
either count the cards on the table 
or the remainder of the pack. 
VI. Should the dealer deal two cards at 
once, or two cards to the same 
hand, and then deal a third ; but 
if prior to dealing that third card 

the dealer can, bv altering the 
2 



1 8. The Art of Practical Whist. 

position of one card only, rectify 
such error, he may do so, except 
as provided by the second para- 
graph of this law. 
VII. Should the dealer omit to have the 
pack cut to him, and the adver- 
saries discover the error prior to 
the trump card being turned up, 
and before looking at their cards, 
but not after having done so. 

45. A misdeal does not lose the deal if, during the 

dealing, either of the adversaries touch the* 
cards prior to the dealer's partner having 
done so, but should the latter have first 
interfered with the cards, notwithstanding 
either or both of the adversaries have subse- 
quently clone the same, the deal is lost. 

46. Should three players have their right number 

of cards, the fourth have less than thirteen, 
and not discover such deficiency until he has 
played any of his cards, the deal stands 
good ; should he have played, he is as an- 
swerable for any revoke he may have made, 
as if the missing card or cards had been in 
his hand ; he may search the other pack for 
it or them. 

47. If a pack, during or after a rubber, be proved 



Misdeal and Trump Card. 19 

incorrect or imperfect, such proof does not 
alter any past score, game or rubber ; that 
hand in which the imperfection was detected 
is null and void ; the dealer deals again. 

48. Any one dealing out of turn, or with the ad- 

versary's cards, may be stopped before the 
trump card is turned up, after which the 
game must proceed as if no mistake had 
been made. 

49. A player can neither shuffle, cut, or deal for 

his partner, without the permission of his 
opponents. 

50. If the adversaries interrupt a dealer whilst 

dealing, either by questioning the score or 
asserting that it is not his deal, and fail to 
establish such claim, should a misdeal occur, 
he may deal again. 

51. Should a player take his partner's deal, and 

misdeal, the latter is liable to the usual 
penalty, and the adversary next in rotation 
to the player who ought to have dealt then 
plays. 

The Trump Card. 

52. The dealer, when it is his turn to play to the 

first trick, should take the trump card into 



20 The Art of Practical Whist. 

his hand ; if left on the table after the first 
trick be turned and quitted, it is liable to be 
called ; his partner may at any time remind 
him of the liability. 

53. After the dealer has taken the trump card into 

his hand it cannot be asked for ; a player 
naming it at any time during the play of 
that hand, is liable to have his highest or 
lowest trump called. 

54. If the dealer take the trump card into his 

hand before it is his turn to play, he may 
be desired to lay it on the table ; should he 
show a wrong card, this card may be called, 
as also a second, a third, &c, until the 
trump card be produced. 

55. If the dealer declare himself unable to recol- 

lect the trump card, his highest or lowest 
trump may be called at any time during that 
hand, and, unless it cause him to revoke, 
must be played ; the call may be repeated, 
but not changed, i.e.,, from highest to low- 
est, or vice versa, until such card is played. 

JVotes on Trump Card. 

The trump card, if left on the table after the 
first trick is turned and quitted, may be called, but 
it is not usual to do so. Consequently there is a 



Cards Liable to be Called. 21 

rule made, and yet the penalty is not usually en- 
acted. Leaving tlie trump card on the table after 
the first trick is turned and quitted may cause con- 
fusion, as it may be mistaken for a lead. It is 
careless at least to leave it exposed, and should 
never be so left. Each player should impress on 
his memory what the trump card is, as during 
the play of the hand much may depend on this 
knowledge. To ask, as some players do, during the 
play of the hand, " What are trumps ? " indicates 
first, carelessness as regards the 'whole plan of the 
play of their hand, and also that they have forgot- 
ten, if they ever noticed, what the trump card was. 

Cards liable to be Called. 

56. All exposed cards are liable to be called, and 
must be left on the table ; but a card is not 
an exposed card when dropped on the floor, 
or elsewhere below the table. 
The following are exposed cards : — 

I. Two or more cards played at once. 
II. Any card dropped with its face up- 
wards, or in any way exposed on 
or above the table, even though 
snatched up so quickly that no one 
can name it. 



22 The Art of Practical Whist. 

57. If any one play to an imperfect trick the best 

card on the table, or lead one which is a 
winning card as against his adversaries, and 
then lead again, or play several such win- 
ning cards, one after the other, without 
waiting for his partner to play, if he can, 
the first or any other of those tricks, and 
the other cards thus improperly played are 
exposed cards. 

58. If a player, or players, under the impression 

that the game is lost, or won, or for other 
reasons, throw his or their cards on the 
table face upwards, such cards are exposed, 
and liable to be called, each player's by the 
adversary ; but should one player alone retain 
his hand, he cannot be forced to abandon 
it. 
50. If all four players throw their cards on the table 
face upwards, the hands are abandoned ; and 
no one can again take up their cards. Should 
this general exhibition show that the game 
might have been saved, or won, neither 
claim can be entertained, unless a revoke be 
established. The revoking players are then 
liable to the following penalties ; they can- 
not, under any circumstances, win the game 
by the result of that hand, and the adver- 



Lead Out of Turn. 23 



saries may add three to their score, or de- 
duct three from that of the revoking players. 

60. A card detached from the rest of the hand so 

as to be named is liable to be called ; but 
should the adversary name a wrong card, he 
is liable to have a suit called when he or his 
partner have the lead. 

61. If a player, who has rendered himself liable to 

have the highest or lowest of a suit called, 
fail to play as desired, or if when called on 
to lead one suit, lead another, having in his 
hand one or more cards of that suit de- 
manded, he incurs the penalty of a revoke. 

62. If any player lead out of turn, his adversaries 

may either call the card erroneously led, or 
may call a suit from him or his partner 
when it is the next turn of either of them 
to lead. 

63. If any player lead out of turn, and the other 

three have followed ' him, the trick is com- 
plete, and the error is rectified ; but if only 
the second, or the second and third, have 
played to the false lead, their cards, on dis- 
covery of the mistake, are taken back ; there 
is no penalty against any one, excepting the 
original offender, whose card may be called, 
or he, or his partner, when either of them 



24 The Art of Practical Whist. 

has next the lead, may be compelled to play 
any suit demanded by the adversaries, 

64. In no case can a player be compelled to play 

a card which would oblige him to revoke. 

65. The call of a card may be repeated until such 

card has been played. 

66. If a player called on to lead a suit have none 

of it, the penalty is paid. 

Notes on Cards liable to be Called. 

However carefully laws and rules may be framed, 
there always will remain certain cases either not 
legislated for, or which the laws scarcely seem to 
have anticipated. The laws relative to cards liable 
to be called is an example of such a case. The 
rule is very clear as regards two or more cards 
played at once, but it is not clear when a card or 
cards are exposed in any way on or above the table. 
The question of lowered hands was ably dealt with 
in the " Field " some years ago, but recent decisions 
in whist in the same paper appear to point to the 
fact that if a player lower his hand so that every 
card in it can be seen by his partner, and conse- 
quently by the adversaries, still his cards so exposed 
above the table cannot be called. A remarkable 
case once occurred in my experience which points 
to this rule being defective or not clear. Four 



Notes on Cards Liable to be Called. 25 

players, A. X. B. Y. 3 were seated in the following 

order. 

X. 

A. B. 

Y. 

Two cards remained in each hand, X. and Y. 
must win both tricks to win the game. A. holds 
two small clubs, X. holds a small diamond and 
the ace of hearts (trumps), B. holds two small 
hearts (trumps), Y. holds king of clubs, and queen 
of hearts. 

A. leads a small club. X. has now to consider 
the following : has Y. two trumps or one trump, 
has Y. the best club, has Y. the queen of trumps. 
If X. does not put his ace on the club, X. and Y. 
lose the game. "Whilst X. is hesitating, Y. lowers 
his two cards, and savs " it cannot matter what 
you play." X. then trumps with the ace, and X. 
and Y. win the game. 

A. and B. claim that there should be a penalty 
for this lowering of the hand ; they say that by 
this lowering an adyantage was gained, and in 
fact the game was won by the adyantage thus ob- 
tained. Y., who meant nothing unfair, is willing 
to abide by any rule that can be shown to bear on 
the case. But no rule efficient to meet the case 
does bear on the occurrence. 



26 The Art of Practical Whist. 

It may be urged that you should not play with 
a person who acts in this way ; but it might with 
equal reason be urged that you should not play 
with a careless player, who reyokes or leads out of 
turn, and such remarks do not meet the case. 
There ought to be a penalty for such an offence ; and 
as calling Y.'s cards, even if legal, could inflict no 
loss, the only remedy appears to be to call on X. 
to win or not to win the trick ; and such, I venture to 
suggest, is a law which might be added to the Club 
Code, and would render the rules more efficient. 

Any card exposed on or above the table seems 
actually to meet the case : but the articles on 
lowered hands, to which I have referred, seems to 
giye an opinion adverse to this. The question, 
however, is one- requiring more clear and definite 
legislation. 

I have seen disputes relative to exposed cards 
among even old players in colonies and country 
places, where a speedy reference to an authority 
is not possible, and I will therefore refer to these. 

Two cards were played at once, viz., a king and 
a two of the same suit. The adversaries called 
the two, and on the next trick called the king. 
The offending player objected to the call of the 
king, as he urged that there were two penalties 
being claimed for one offence. Of course his ob- 



Cases of Cards Liable to be Called, 2 J 

jection was unsound ; each card could be called, 
as is mentioned in a note on this rule in Cavendish 
on AY hist. 

Another case occurred in which two cards were 
exposed. The first card was called, and when it 
was the offending player's turn to lead, his second 
exposed card was called. This, he urged, was 
enacting two penalties, as it called an exposed card 
and a lead also. This objection is likewise un- 
sound. The card exposed can be called at any 
time, no matter whether as a lead or not. 

A. led the king of hearts out of turn, when it 
was B., A.'s partner's turn to lead. B. is called 
on to lead a spade, and A. takes the king of 
hearts into his hand. The adversaries object to 
this, and say that all exposed cards must be left 
on the table face upwards ; that although the 
king of hearts cannot be called, still it must be 
left on the table, face upwards, as it is an exposed 
card. This argument is unsound ; immediately a 
suit is called, the exposed card is released from 
being a legally exposed card, and therefore may 
be taken up by its owner. 

A. leads the king of hearts when it is the 
adversary's lead, X., one of the adversaries, pushes 
the king of hearts on one side, and savs " we will 
call that card presently.'' X. leads, and the trick 



28 The Art of Practical Whist. 

is won by B., A.'s partner. Y. then says to B., 
"now lead a spade." A. and B. object, and urge 
that X. has already stated that he will call the 
king of hearts, and neither he nor his partner can 
change the penalty that one of them has chosen 
to elect. 

A. and B. are undoubtedly correct. 

If X. had said " we may possibly call that card," 
the call of a suit afterwards would have been legal. 
Any such remark as " we will do this or that," is 
binding. 

There are a certain class of players who we may 
term " slack players," who do and say things at 
whist that are illegal in spirit, though no penalty 
has been laid down for such acts. One very 
common example is the following. 

A small card is led, second player holds king, 
queen and a small card of the suit, and plays his 
queen, third player plays a small card, fourth 
player hesitates, and then says, " that is yours, I 
think, partner ? " 

This remark can mean only that fourth player 
holds the ace, if fourth player follow suit. The 
remark is irregular, and it should be quietly 
pointed out to the offender that it is so. The 
fourth paragraph of Etiquette in Whist un- 
doubtedly bears on this proceeding. 



Cards Played in Error 29 

Cards Played in Error, or not Played to 

a Trick. 

67. If the third hand play before the second, the 

fourth hand may play before his partner. 

68. Should the third hand not have played, and 

the fourth play before his partner, the latter 
may be called on to win or not to win the 
trick. 

69. If any one omit playing to a former trick, and 

such error be not discovered until he has 
played to the next, the adversaries may 
claim a new deal. Should they decide that 
the deal stand good, the surplus card at the 
end of the hand is considered to have been 
played to the imperfect trick, but does not 
constitute a revoke. 

70. If any one play two cards to the same trick, or 

mix his trump or other card with a trick 
to which it does not properly belong, and the 
mistake be not discovered- until the hand is 
played out, he is .answerable for all conse- 
quent revokes he may have made. If during 
the play of the hand the error be detected, 
the tricks may be counted face downwards, 
in order to ascertain whether there be among 
them a card too many. Should this be the 



"O The Art of Practical Whist, 



o 



case, they may be searched and the card 
restored. The player is, however, liable for 
all revokes he may have meanwhile made. 

Notes on Cards Played in Erroi% &e. 

Rule 69 requires to be carefully impressed on 
the memory; many players mistake or forget this 
penalty. 

Rule 70 shows the necessity of carefully pack- 
ing each trick as mentioned in Notes on Scoring, 
otherwise it would be difficult, if not impossible, 
to discover the card played in error. 

The Revoke 

71. Is when a player, holding one or more cards 

of the suit led, plays a card of a different 
suit. 

72. The penalty for a revoke : — 

I. Is at the option of the adversaries, 
who, at the end of the hand, may 
either take, three tricks from the 
revoking player, or deduct three 
points from his score, or add three 
to their own score ; 
II. Can be claimed for as many revokes 
as occur during the hand ; 



The Revoke. 31 



III. Is applicable only to the score of the 

game in which it occurs ; 
IY. Cannot be divided, i.e. 3 a player can- 
not add one or two to his own 
score and deduct one or two from 
the revoking player ; 
V. Takes precedence of every other 
score, e.g., the claimants two — their 
opponents nothing — the former 
add three to their score, and there- 
by win a treble game, even should 
the latter have made thirteen 
tricks and held four honours. 
T3. A revoke is established, if the trick in which 
it occur be turned and quitted, i.e., the 
hand removed from that trick after it has 
been turned face downwards on the table — 
or if either the revoking player or his part- 
ner, whether in his turn or otherwise, lead 
or play to the following trick. 
7-±. A player may ask his partner whether he has 
not a card of the suit which he has re- 
nounced ; should the question be asked before 
the trick is turned and quitted, subsequent 
turning and quitting does not establish the 
revoke, and the error may be corrected, 
imless the question be answered in the nega- 



32 The Art of Practical Whist. 

five, or unless the revoking player or his 
partner have led or played to the following 
trick. 

75. At the end of the hand the claimants of a 

revoke may search all the tricks. 

76. If a player discover his mistake in time to 

save a revoke, his adversaries, whenever 
they think fit, may call the card thus played 
in error, or may require him to play his 
highest or lowest card to that trick in which 
he has, renounced ; — any player or players 
who have plaved after him may withdraw 
their cards and substitute others : the cards 
withdrawn are not liable to be called. 

77. If a revoke be claimed, and the accused player 

or his partner mix his cards before they have 
been sufficiently examined bv the adversaries, 
the revoke is established. The mixing of the 
cards only renders the proof of a revoke 
difficult, but does not prevent the claim, and 
possible establishment, of the penalty. 

78. A revoke cannot be claimed after the cards 

have been cut for the following deal. 

79. The revoking player and his partner may, 

under all circumstances, require the hand 
in which the revoke had been detected to 
be played out. 



Notes on ike Revoke. 33 



SO. If a revoke occur, be claimed and proved, 
bets on the odd trick, or on amount of score, 
must be decided by the actual state of the 
latter after the penalty is paid. 

81. Should the pla t yerson both sides subject them- 

selves to the penalty of one or more revokes, 
neither can win the Mine ; each is mmished 
at the discretion of his adversary. 

82. In whatever way the penalty be enforced, 

under no circumstances can a player win a 
game by the result of the hand during which 
he has revoked ; he cannot score more than 
four. 

Notes on the Revoke. 

There are three penalties for a revoke when 
the revoking players have scored three or four by 
previous hands. There are only two penalties 
when the score of the revoking partners is at love, 
one, or two. 

The penalty for the revoke takes precedence of 
every other score ; consequently, if the revoking 
partners have no score already marked up, 
amounting to three or four, their adversaries have 
no option other than to take three tricks from the 
revolving partners and add them to their own, or 
to add three to their own score. 



1 



4 77^ ^4^/ 0/" Practical Whist. 



I have known many players who, unacquainted 
with this law, have acted illegally in their penalty. 
Example : — Score, love all ; A. and B. score two 
by honours and two by cards. X. and Y. are the 
better players, and fancy that the more distant the 
goal the better is their chance. If they enact as 
penalty three tricks from the revolvers, the game 
would stand — 

A. B. 2, 

X. Y. I. 

If X. and Y. added three to their score, the game 
would stand — 

A. B. 4, 

X. Y. 3. 

As the recognized odds in the first case would be 
less in favour of A. B. than in the second, the first 
would be the better penalty ; but X. Y. claimed 
and were allowed by the revoking players to take 
three away from their score of two by cards, two 
by honours, when the game stood — 

A. B. I, 
X. Y. love. 

With reference to the penalty for a revoke, I 
was witness of the following : — 

A. B. scored two bv cards and two bv honours, 



Notes o?i the Revoke. 35 

and were at love. X. and Y. were at love, but in 
this hand A. revoked. 

" Xow what will you do ? " asked A. 

X. and Y. consulted, and then X. said, "Mark 
jour two by cards and two by honours." 

A. and B. marked four. 

" Now," said X., " I will take three from your 
score and reduce vou'to one." 

" You have lost your right to any penalty," now 
urged A. " The penalty for a revoke takes prece- 
dence of every other score, and so when you tell 
us to score four you have lost your right to a 
penalty." 

The law as it now stands is undoubtedly in 
accordance with A.'s argument. The penalty for 
the revoke must be claimed and paid first, before 
aiiY other score is registered. If then the re- 
voldng partners be allowed and directed to score, 
their adversaries have lost their right to any 
claim. 

That such was the intention of the original 
f ramers of this law I do not think is probable, 
but the reading of the law as it now stands is 
certainly in accord with A.'s argument. Thus, if 
A. B. revoke, hold four by honours, and gain three 
by cards, no penalty can prevent their being four, 
provided the adversaries are at love. I have seen 



36 The Art of Practical Whist. 

so many mistakes made in connection with this 
penalty that particular attention is called to it. 



Calling for New Cards. 

83. Any player (on paying for them) before, but 
not after the pack be cut for the deal, may 
call for fresh cards. He must call for two 
new packs, of which the dealer takes his 
choice. 



General Rules. 

84. Where a player and his partner have an 

option of exacting from their adversaries 
one of two penalties, they should agree who 
is to make the election, but must not consult 
with one another which of the two penalties 
it is advisable to exact ; if they do so con- 
sult, they lose their right ; and if either of 
them, with or without the consent of his 
partner, demand a penalty to which he is 
entitled, such decision is final. This rule 
does not apply in exacting the penalties for 
a revoke, partners have then a right to consult. 

85. Any one during the play of a trick, or after 

the four cards are played, and before, but not 



General Rides. $j 

after, they are touched for the purpose of 
gathering them together, may demand that 
the cards be placed before their respective 
players. 

86. If any one, prior to his partner playing, 

should call attention to the trick, either by 
saying that it is his, or by naming his card, 
or, without being required so to do, by 
drawing it towards him, the adversaries may 
require that opponent's partner to play the 
highest or lowest of the suit they led, or to 
win or lose the trick. 

87. In all cases where a penalty has been incurred, 

the offender is bound to give reasonable 
time for the decision of his adversaries. 

88. If a bvstander make anv remark which calls 

the attention of a player or players to an 
oversight affecting; the score, he is liable to 
be called on, by the players only, to pay the 
stakes and all bets on that game or rubber. 

89. A bystander, by agreement among the players, 

may decide any question. 

90. A card or cards torn or marked must be either 

replaced by agreement, or new cards called 
at the expense of the table. 

91. Any player may demand to see the last trick 

turned, and no more. Under no circum- 



38 The Art of Practical Whist. 

stances can more than eight cards be seen 
during the play of the hand, viz. : the four 
cards on the table, which have not been 
turned and quitted, and the last trick 
turned. 

Notes on General Rules. 

When an offence against the laws has been com- 
mitted, it is usual for one of the adversaries to say 
to his partner, " Will you enact the penalty, or 
shall IV This gives to one player the option of 
enacting the penalty or leaving it to his partner to 
do so. The most common case of such an option 
occurring, is when there has been a lead out of turn. 
The adversaries then have the option of calling 
either the card erroneously played, or of calling a 
lead. Which is the more favourable penalty to 
enact is then the question. If a player who is 
fourth hand when the penalty is to be enacted hold 
ace and queen of a suit when the king is in hand, or 
hold king and one other card of a suit when the ace 
is in hand, it would be a great advantage for him to 
be led up to. Consequently, although the question 
" Will you enact the penalty, or shall I," has been 
asked, it is better that the enaction of the penalty 
should be left to the player who will be fourth hand 
when the penalty is enacted. If, however, the 



Notes on General Rules. 39 

player who lias led out of turn be last player, it 
may be advantageous to lead up to him and call 
his exposed card. Thus it is often an important 
question as to toho should enact the penalty, and 
this option should be left to the player whose po- 
sition is as stated above, and not, as is often the 
case, assigned by the player who considers himself 
inferior to his partner, who may be considered 
the better player of the two. 

The longer I play whist the more I regret that 
Rule 91 exists, and that it is at all possible to see 
the cards of a trick turned and quitted. Some 
players have a habit of waiting till the last trick is 
turned and quitted and then either look at it them- 
selves or ask that it be shown them. This does 
not occur once or twice during an evening's play, 
but is almost perpetually taking place. More 
especially does it happen when a player has led the 
king of a suit and follows with the ace, and his 
partner drops the three or four. A careless player 
will then ask to look at the last trick, and if he 
find a two in it, he hesitates and reflects and 
probably dashes out a trump, imagining that his 
partner has asked for trumps, by playing first an 
unnecessarily high card. 

I once heard one of the best whist-players I ever 
met remark, that he could consider no man any- 



40 The Art of Practical Whist. 

thing but a second-rate player who (unless his 
attention was diverted from the game) ever asked 
more than once during a rubber to look at the last 
trick, and he added, a first-class player scarcely ever 
asks to see the last trick. A player who is wasting 
his time in looking at or pulling about his own 
cards during the play of a hand, necessarily fails to 
see who plays certain cards. In the vain hope of 
obtaining such intelligence, the player looks at the 
last trick and commences a condition of mental 
confusion which continues during the whole hand. 
To avoid such a habit or such a result, never take 
your eyes oft* the table whilst each player is- play- 
ing his cards ; observe each card and draw your 
conclusions at once on its fall. You will then 
never need ask to look at the last trick, and will 
have adopted one of the most essential proceed- 
ings to make yourself a whist-player. 

The same remarks apply to the player who is 
sorting his cards, or is otherwise occupied during 
the play of the hand, and who is perpetually asking 
the players to place their cards. It is only when 
two or three cards are played so quickly as to 
render it difficult to decide who has played particu- 
lar cards that this demand is necessary. Such 
persons forget that they by their want of attention 
are calling upon three players to do that which is a 



Etiquette of Whist, 41 

trouble and annoyance, and is by no means neces- 
sary if common attention is given to the game. 
Some persons, however, habitually call upon the 
players to place their cards, and then ask to look 
at the last trick, and often add to these two 
unpardonable offences a third, by asking "Now 
what are trumps ? " Such men are annoying and 
offensive whist-players, and can have no proper 
feeling as regards their duties to their neighbours. 
Never get into these habits ; but, if you possess 
them, break yourself of them at once. 

Etiquette of Whist. 

The following rules belong to the established 

etiquette of whist. They are not called law.-, 
as it is difficult — in some cases impossible — to 
apply any penalty to their infraction, and the 
only remedy is to cease to play with players who 
habitually disregard them. 

Two packs of cards are invariably used at club- : 
if possible this should be adhered to. 

Any one having the lead and several winning 
cards to play, should not draw a second card out 
of his hand until his partner has played to the 
first trick, such act being a distinct intimation 
that the former has played a winning card. 



42 The Art of Practical Whist. 

ISTo intimation whatever, by word or gesture, 
should be given by a player as to the state of his 
hand, or of the game. 

A player who desires the cards to be placed, or 
who demands to see the last trick, should do it 
for his own information only, and not in order to 
invite the attention of his partner. 

]STo player should object to refer to a bystander 
who professes himself uninterested in the game, 
and able to decide any disputed question of facts, 
as to who played any particular card, whether 
honours were claimed, though not scored, or vice 
versa, &c, &c. It is unfair to revoke purposely. 
Having made a revoke, a player is not justified 
in making a second in order to conceal the first. 

Until the players have made such bets as they 
wish, bets should not be made with bystanders. 

Bystanders should make no remarks, neither 
should they by word or gesture give any intima- 
tion of the state of the game until concluded and 
scored, nor should they walk round the table to 
look at the different hands. 

]S r o one should look over the hand of a player 
against whom he is betting. 



Dummy. 4 



-5 



Dummy 

Is played by three players. 

One hand called dummy's lies exposed^on the 
table. 

The laws are the same as those of whist, with 
the following exceptions : — 

I. Dummy deals at the commencement 
of each rubber. 
II. Dummy is not liable to the penalty for 
a revoke, as his adversaries see his 
cards : should he revoke and the er- 
ror not be discovered until the trick 
is turned and quitted, it stands good. 
III. Dummy being blind and deaf, his 
partner is not liable to any penalty 
for an error, whence he can gain 
no advantage. Thus he may ex- 
pose some, or all of his cards, or 
may declare he has the game or 
trick, &c, without incurring any 
penalty : if however, he lead from 
dummy's hand when he should 
lead from his own, or vice versa, 
a suit may be called from the 
hand which ought to have led. 



44 The Art of Practical Whist. 



Double Dummy 

Is played by two players, each having a dummy, 
or exposed hand, for his partner. The laws of 
the game do not differ from dummy whist, except 
in the following law : there is no misdeal, as the 
deal is a disadvantage. 



ENQUIRY. 

I have played whist for some years, but never 
with any first-class players. I never read a book 
on whist in my life, but think I play a fair game ; 
yet I am such a bad card-holder that I nearly 
always lose ; so I am thinking of giving up the 
game. What do you recommend me to do ? 

Answered by Letter Iso. 2. 



LETTER II. 

HOW TO LEARN WHIST. 

Ix order to obtain even mediocrity in whist, it is 
necessary to read some of the books that have been 
written on the subject, and it is better to read them 
all. There is no more certain method of discovering 
a conceited man than to play whist with him. He 
will indicate his weak points in many ways, and one 
that is very common is to announce that he never 
read a book on whist in his life. This statement is 
usually made by men who like their own play very 
much, and fancy that although they are not quite 
first-class players they are very near being so. 

AYhen a player has committed a series of puerile 
mistakes during a rubber, everv one of which is 

CD ~ xJ 

referred to as bad play in whist books, and then 
announces with an air of triumph, that he never 
read a book on whist in his life, it is rather disap- 
pointing for his partner to inform him, that his 
style of play clearly indicates that he has not read. 
Considering that the later books written on 



46 The Art of Practical Whist. 



wliist may be said to contain the experience of 
nearly one hundred years of whist-playing, (for 
each writer writes up to his own time, and builds 
on that which has occurred before him,) it is 
merely asserting, that one man's experience of 
whist during probably a few years' play, fits him 
to play as well as if he had played all over the 
world during a hundred years. 

Many persons who blunder through a game of 
whist, will excuse their mistakes by saying, " They 
only play whist for amusement." 

Let us now apply the same argument to another 
case. Suppose a lady of mature years sat clown at 
a piano and banged the notes at random, without 
any idea of time or harmony, or even of tune. It 
would indicate a singular type of mind, if, when it 
was suggested that there would be a more pleasant 
noise if the lady learned her notes, she replied, " Oh 
I only play the piano for amusement." Yet ex- 
actly similar remarks are made by men of mature 
years, who play probably three or four nights per 
week at whist, and who have played a sort of 
whist for years. 

Just picture to yourself the ridiculous condition 
of such a man's mind, and if yours is at all like 
it, at once practise a little humility, and exercise 
a little common sense, and read whist if you intend 



Necessity for Reading. 47 

to play it, and avoid the pity which you scarcely 
deserve when yon lose a rubber, and your own and 
your partner's money by ignorance, due to a 
superfluity of conceit. 

It is often too an indication of laziness, when a 
man plays whist frequently and yet does not read, 
or know the rules which long years of whist- 
playing have proved to be the best, and the loss to 
himself is considerable. I here wish to point out to 
you that there is no game less of a gambling game 
than is whist. It is a sort of three per cent, consols 
investment, if played for points only, as it ought to 
be played without bets. But I will demonstrate 
what is the value that you place upon your time, 
when you state that you have no time to read 
about whist. If you never have read about whist, 
von cannot avoid being a very inferior player, 
unless you have played during several years with 
the very best players. Assuming then that you 
have no time to read, you must be an inferior' 
player ; and that you play whist one evening per 
week, or fifty evenings per year. That you play 
only shilling points with no bets, the rubber being 
limited to eight points. We will suppose that 
although you have never read about whist, you vet 
play so well that you only lose one rubber during 
the evening by bad play, (a very favourable view 



48 The Art of Practical Whist. 

of your case) ; that you lose six points when 
you ought to have won six points, making a 
difference of twelve shillings each night, and 
thirty pounds a year. 

Is ow suppose some generous minded person were 
to say, " Here is a book of about two hundred pages 
I want you to read. It is rather amusing than 
otherwise, you had better read it in instalments, say 
one hour a day, so as to think over and digest what 
you read. In one month, if you read only every 
other day, you will know the book well." 

Suppose to this request you replied, " I have not 
time ; " you would in reality be saving, " My time 
is worth thirty pounds a month, at the rate of one 
hour every other day." 

But in addition to the pecuniary value to be 
derived from reading about whist, there is another 
reason for doing so. Whist is a social game. You 
enter into partnership with one partner for a certain 
business. If you are a good partner, every one is 
glad to sit opposite to you, and you work in har- 
mony with this partner. If you are bad as a partner, 
you are voted a nuisance ; you irritate your tem- 
porary friend ; and you must be dull indeed if you 
do not perceive the look of disgust which few can 
conceal when the cards drawn show that you fall to 
the lot of the man, indicating his displeasure, and 



Good and Bad Cards. 49 



the cheerful look that emanates from those who 
have escaped having you for their vis-d-vis. 

Such indications must surely be humiliating to 
a man who is so self-sufficient as to boast that he 
never reads about whist. 

You say that you are such a bad card-holder that 
vou nearlv always lose. Few remarks are more 
amusing; than this of vours. That vou lose is a fact 
about which there is no question, and you assert 
that vou do so because vou are a bad card-holder. 
Now there is nothing more certain than that every 
man during, we will say 1,000 rubbers, holds nearly 
the same number of court cards, and the same 
number of trumps. It is quite possible, and often 
happens, that cards run against you for days and 
perhaps weeks, and you hold during that period far 
below the average of winning cards ; but as sure as 
summer follows winter, vou will find that after a 
time vou will hold above the average of cards, and 
in a long series you will as nearly as possible have 
held the average onlv. On three occasions in my 
whist experience I lost above 500 points between 
January and March : but before the end of the 
year, I was a winner of 450 points. 

Early in one year I once lost 35 rubbers in suc- 
cession ; before June of the same vear 1 won IS 

rubbers in succession, then lost two rubbers, and 
4 



50 The Art of Practical Whist. 



the next day won 10 rubbers in succession. Those 
players who were witnesses of this last-named 
result, exclaimed that they had never seen such a 
card-holder — but they forgot I was only making up 
my average, and they did not remember the loss 
of 35 rubbers in succession. 

To claim to be a bad card-holder is ridiculous. 
I have often heard the claim made, and 1 never 
failed, on looking over the play of the claimant, 
to discover that when he held inferior cards he lost 
more than he ought to have lost, and when he 
held good cards he did not win as much as he ought-. 

To lose one or even two tricks in each hand is 
by no means an unusual performance on the part 
of a player who has never read a book on whist, if 
you consider that there are probably five or six 
hands for each rubber. Such play, with hands of 
equal value all round, will lose eight instead of 
winning eight points ; and such, I have no doubt, 
is the explanation of your opinion that you are a 
bad card-holder. It is the true explanation of 
every other similar case that I have watched, and 
I am indisposed to admit miracles in whist, as an 
explanation of facts, for which I have always found 
another and a natural solution. 

When you ask what I recommend you to do, I 
answer, read and think about whist. Don't do as 



Common Sense at Whist. 51 

many do : take up thirteen cards and just play 
them anyhow, without system, order, or reason. 
Whist is a simple game ; it should in almost every 
case be played clearly and simply ; and the usual 
fault of bad players is, that they play whist ap- 
parently with an absence of common sense, and 
commit acts which, in any business habits of life, 
would cause them to be considered little better 
than imbeciles. In my next letter I will describe 
what I believe the essential preliminary steps to 
becoming a whist-player. 



LETTER III. 

WATCHIXG THE GAME. 

To arrive at the rank of a good player, certain 
systematic proceedings are necessary, and to which 
I will now call your attention. By carefully attend- 
ing to these, you will avoid one of the most dan- 
gerous and annoying proceedings of certain players 
who would otherwise be good, and will not com- 
mit as they do, what I will term u clerical errors." 

By clerical errors, I mean such palpable mis- 
takes as leading out of turn, mistaking the trump 
suit, playing a club to a spade suit when you hold 
a spade, or a diamond to a heart suit when you 
hold a heart. Thinking your partner discarded a 
spade, when he in reality discarded a diamond, 
and the adversaries discarded a spade, and conse- 
quently playing to favour the adversaries, instead 
of selecting to favour your partner. These and 
similar mistakes, usually arise from causes which 
I will now explain, and endeavour to point out 
how to avoid. 



Watch the Cards as they fall. 53 



Immediatelv the cards are drawn, to decide who 
are partners and who deals, remember whether 
you are first, second, third or fourth player, when 
the deal is completed. As soon as the cards are 
dealt, observe carefully the trump card, and note 
how it may aid you in finessing, or otherwise, 
by comparing its value with the trumps in your 
own hand. For example, suppose the knave is 
turned up to your right, and you hold queen, ten 
and a small card in trumps ; your qiteen and ten 
are equally good, as long as the lead comes through 
you. To play the queen, then third in hand, 
instead of the ten, would be an act of stupidity, 
unless the knave was played second in hand. 
Again, suppose the knave turned up to your right, 
and you hold ten, eight, seven of trumps. To lead 
the ten, in the hopes of strengthening your partner, 
would be weak play, for your partner must head 
your ten to prevent the knave from winning, and 
he would do the same to a small card, and your 
ten would be a useful card held up. 

Sort your cards quickly and systematically, 
arranging the suits alternately red and black, and 
the cards of each suit in the order of their relative 
value. 

It is said that if you always place your trumps 
in one position in your hand, certain opponents 



54 The Art of Practical Whist. 

will note as you sort your cards, how many trumps 
you hold. I do not consider this argument is of 
value. If an opponent watches you sort your 
cards for this purpose, you must be very dull if you 
don't perceive it, and if you do find he does so, you 
can very soon mislead him by going through the 
motions of holding many trumps, when you have 
only a few, or vice versa. It is a terrible error to 
mistake the trump suit, and if trumps are always 
sorted into one position, such an error is not likely. 
It is a very bad habit to be occupied in any way 
when the sorting of hands is going on. You 
should practise sorting your hand quickly, so as to 
be ready for the lead, and to have formed some 
estimate of the value of vour hand before the first 
card is led. By forming an estimate of your hand, 
I mean, that you should note how many tricks you 
are almost certain to win ; how many tricks you 
may probably win ; then having noted the score of 
your adversaries, and your own score, you know 
whether you can save the game in your own hand. 
If yon cannot do so, you must remember how many 
tricks you require from your partner to save the 
game between you. If you are certain that you 
can save the game, you may then run some risk to 
win it ; but you must be most cautious, as the 
state of the score alters the style of the play. 



Play to Score, 55 

When the adversaries are four to your love, 
you must play quite a different game from that 
which you would play at love all. Again, if you 
are four and the adversaries love, it would be 
absurd to play a game which might win you three 
or even two by cards, but might lose you the 



Now all these important questions should pass 
and be weighed in your mind before a card is 
played, and if you are sorting your cards when 
these questions should be considered, you at once 
start at a disadvantage. 

Immediately a card is led, either by your partner 
or an adversary, you should, from what you know of 
the cards in your own hand, form conclusions as to 
what this card means. For example, suppose you 
hold (w r ith other cards) the ace, ten, five and two 
of hearts, and that your left-hand adversary is the 
original leader. Suppose he lead the six of hearts, a 
rapid glance at your own hand indicates that there 
are two cards — viz., the four and three — lower 
than the card of the original leader, and these cards 
are in one or other of the three hands. To the six 
your partner plays the eight, third player plays 
king, you win with ace. From the instant a card 
is led you should never take your eyes off the table, 
but as each card falls, draw conclusions as to where 



56 The Art of Practical Whist. 

the other cards are located. A lead of the six by 
the original leader would indicate — 

First, that it was the lowest of four cards of the 
suit. 

Second, that it was the lowest but one of a five 
suit. 

Which of these two conditions really exists it is 
impossible at present to decide. 

When jour partner plays the eight, it indicates 
that if he hold either the four or three or seven he 
is asking for trumps (as he has played an unne- 
cessarily high card, as will be fully explained in a 
future letter). When third hand plays the king, 
it shows he has not the queen. Is ow where are 
the three, four, and seven ? — for on their position 
depends 3^0111* knowledge of the game. 

We will suppose that having won the first trick 
with the ace, you return the two of hearts. Second 
hand (that is the original leader) plays the seven, 
your partner wins with queen, and fourth hand 
plays the three. 

From comparing these cards with those which 
fell previously, you can now form a very fair esti- 
mate of the suit of hearts, and of the hands held 
by one adversary at least. The original leader led 
six, then second round played seven. He does not 
then hold live of the suit unless he is a weak 



Drazv Conclusions. 57 

player, otherwise in the second round he would 
play the four or three, showing his partner that he 
had led originally the lowest but one, or what is 
termed the "penultimate," which when led indi- 
cates live in the suit. The play of the queen by 
your partner shows that he does not hold the 
knave, and the play of the three by your right- 
hand adversary shows he is not asking for trumps, 
as it is the lowest card he could play. 

You now rapidly draw your inferences. Orig- 
inal leader led from four of a suit, and these four 
were almost certainly six, seven, nine and knave. 
If your partner, after winning with the queen of 
hearts, does not lead a trump, you may fairly con- 
clude that the four of hearts is not in his hand, 
and that his first card, the eight, was not an " ask 
for trumps." You can now place the nine and 
knave of hearts to your left and the four to vour 
right, and you can when you like, force your part- 
ner, if vou consider it advisable to do so. For as 
eight hearts are out, and as you hold two, two are 
to your left and one to vour right, the thirteen are 
accounted for, and your partner cannot hold 
another heart. If now one trick more would save 
the game, you can save it when you obtain the 
lead by forcing your partner. 

This will serve as an example of the system you 



5 8 The Art of Practical Whist. 



should adopt, of observing the fall of the cards and 
drawing your conclusions at once. If you commit 
the error of gazing at your own cards, as if you 
were studying the countenances of the kings and 
queens, instead of watching the fall of the cards, 
you will probably be compelled to say " place your 
cards," and you at once start at a disadvantage. 



ENQUIRY. 

I have read Letter Three, and I note the points 
to which you call attention ; but I find it very diffi- 
cult, as I have a bad memory, to remember the 
cards that are out. Can you suggest any method 
for improving my memory, as regards whist. If 
I could do so, I should play much better. Also I 
am not quite clear why men should play whist so 
that you can know bv the cards tliev play what 

ft C L 1. C 

they hold in their hands. It seems to me they 
may deceive you, and then all your calculations 
are upset. 



LETTER IV. 

WHIST MEMORY.— THE LEAD. 

Many persons make the same mistake that yon 
seem to have clone, and appear to consider that a 
very good memory is necessary in order to play 

whist well. "Memory " is a word often used and 

t/ 

but little understood. "What yon consider Memory 
is nothing; more as regards whist than careful 
observation, and I think I can make this clear to 

von. 

j 

If von were asked how manv steps there were 
from the ground floor to an upstairs room, to which 
yon ascended daily, yon might possibly assert that 
von could not remember. The fact would be that 
von had never observed or counted. Count these 
steps, and ten minutes afterwards even, you could 
state the number without anv exertion of memory. 

Suppose you entered a dining room, and were 
asked after you had been there five minutes, how 
many chairs there were in the room, or how many 
pictures, you could not state how many as an act of 
memory ; but if you had observed and counted, 



60 The Art of Practical Whist. 

you could at once state. You may remember the 
account given in, I think, the " Life of Houclin the 
Conjuror," how he passed a shop window, ob- 
served the contents and then wrote them down, 
and thus discovered how many things he had failed 
to observe. By thus repeating his observations, 
he found he improved immensely, and could soon 
tell by a glance as much, as he had at first been 
able to discern by a long look. 

So is it at whist. If you are fiddling about your 
cards, and sorting them when you ought to be 
looking at the table, you fail to observe the cards 
that fall from each player's hand, and you conse- 
quently cannot recall what these particular cards 
really are, and no amount of looking at the last 
trick will do anything more than imperfectly aid, 
and very often puzzle you as regards who played 
particular cards. I^ote carefully each card as it 
falls, and draw your conclusions from these cards 
as regards the state of the hand of each player, and 
you will soon find what you call your memory is a 
far more accurate register than what you imagine 
it is. 

You will find how essential it is, that your atten- 
tion is not taken off during the play of the hand. 
If anything takes your attention off the table, you 
cannot observe as you ought, and then conse- 



Make your Cai'ds intelligible. 61 

quently you forget what cards are out, and cannot 
form a just conclusion as to where other cards not 
played are most likely to be situated. 

Your second remark is one which calls for 
special notice, and I would impress on you the 
importance of what follows : — 

You say " Why should men play whist so that 
you can know by the cards they play what they hold 
in their hands," &c. On this depends the beauty 
and principle of the game. In whist it is a combi- 
nation of your own and your partner's hand, against 
those of your two adversaries. If you and your part- 
ner by a certain system of play, can make each other 
understand what cards you each hold, whilst your 
two adyersaries conceal from each other, or mislead 
each other as to what is in their hands, then you 
and your partner are playing what is called twenty- 
six cards, instead of thirteen, and you are pulling 
together instead of in different directions, and your 
combination, with equal cards to those held by your 
adyersaries, will to a certainty defeat their disor- 
ganization. If, therefore, you have a partner who 
is intelligent, who observes the cards that fall from 
each hand, you should pla}^ so as to inform him of 
the contents of your hand, although you also inform 

«/ ' O %J 

intelligent adversaries, and you gain an advantage 
by so doing. If you have a partner who plays so 



62 The Art of Practical Whist. 



obscurely as to conceal from you what lie has in his 
hand, you have no alternative but to play your own 
hand selfishly, and thus you labour under the dis- 
advantage of having three adversaries, and must 
lose if the cards are at all equally divided. 

For example : Suppose you hold ace, two, and 
three of trumps ; your partner turns up the 
queen, and holds king and queen only. Your 
right hand adversary leads a trump, you play the 
two, third hand plays the nine, and your partner 
plays queen. You conclude from this that your 
partner does not hold the ten, knave, or king. If 
he had held either ten or knave, he would not 
have won with the queen. If he had held the 
king, he would have played it to let you know he 
held both king and queen, for you already know 
he holds the queen, as it was turned up. On 
trumps being played again by your right hand 
adversary, you play your ace second hand, and 
your partner's king falls to it, and the whole 
command of the trumps is now against you, and 
a trick has been lost. 

This is a most palpable example of what I wish 
to impress on you — viz., that to play a strong game 
you must play so as to make your own hand as 
clear as possible to your partner. If either adver- 
sary play so as to deceive you, he must also play 



Learn the Simple Rules, 63 

so as to deceive his partner ; consequently he plays 
on a system which in the long run must lose. 

Iii order, therefore, to play on the most winning 
system, there are certain cards in a suit which you 
should lead when it is your original lead — that is, 
when your right hand adversary has dealt and you 
commence with a lead. There are certain cards 
to play second in hand, third in hand, and when 
last player. Which cards to lead and which to 
play under the above conditions are carefully laid 
down in every book on whist, and these must, be 
learnt and remembered. There is no difficulty in 
remembering them, and it is just as easy to play 
the correct as the incorrect card. 

Learning, then, what to lead, what to play 
second and third in hand, is the mere A JB C, or 
mechanical part of whist ; consequently the com- 
mencement of a game is easy and presents but 
slight variations. As each card falls the play be- 
comes more difficult, and greater skill is required ; 
so that a good player who has read the book may 
pla} r half the hand as well as a skilful player ; but 
when the last half of the cards have to be played, 
the unobservant or stupid player loses generally 
one and often two tricks. 

When, then, you have learnt what to lead, 
what card to play second and third in hand, do 



64 The Art of Practical Whist. 

not run away with the idea that you know any- 
tiling of whist, — you haye yet to learn the art of 
the o-anie. But before you can be anything but a 
very bad player, you must learn what to lead when 
you are original leader. I will, therefore, now give 
you a list of the conventional leads, when you 
have certain cards in your hand. Each of these 
leads has a reason for being adopted, and this 
conventional system is the result of the accumu- 
lated experience of the best whist-players during 
probably the past hundred years. Do not, then, 
imagine that your own personal experience is in 
any way to be compared with that which has 
caused the various leads given below to be 
adopted. These leads must be learned ; so that 
you never need be in doubt about an original lead. 

AVlien vou have learned what to lead, you will 
not act like some players who, when it is their 
lead, wait some minutes, and then mutter that 
thev don't know what to lead. 

The original lead is an easy thing, for vou 
should in nearly every case lead from your longest 
suit : which card of this longest suit to lead, in 
order both to protect yourself and to inform your 
partner, and save his wasting an unnecessarily 
high card, will now be explained. 



The Lead. 65 

The Lead. 

Whex you have sorted your hand, you can at 
once tell which is your longest suit. You must 
have at least one suit, containing four cards.. 
Probably you may have one suit with five or even 
six cards : this is called your strongest suit. If 
you hold two suits each containing four cards, the 
relative value of these cards determines which is 
the stronger suit. Thus with queen, ten, seven, 
and two of spades, king, queen, eight, and two of 
hearts, the hearts is the stronger suit. 

Before you commence your lead you should note 
the score, and see whether from vour own hand 
you are certain to save the game. If you hold 
only three trumps, with one honour, and have 
but two tolerably sure tricks, you will require at 
least two tricks from your partner to be safe, as 
regards the game, as you may hope to make one 
of your doubtful cards. But the first question 
you should ask yourself is, " Can I venture to 
play a forward game ( or can I only play a back 
or safe game \ J As this is one of the most im- 
portant problems in the art of whist, I suggest 
that you take a pack of cards and give yourself 
the following cards — ace, queen, knave, and two 
of diamonds (trumps), king and three of spades, 



66 The Art of Practical Whist. 

ace, king, queen, five, and three of clubs, the 
seven and four of hearts. The score is three all. 
Any thoughtful player would at once see that 
the two by honours in his own hand gave him game, 
provided he could prevent the adversaries from 
scoring two by cards. There is no object in thd* 
holder of this hand winning the odd trick, or even 
two by cards. If the adversaries win the odd 
trick, it is no use to them. So the sole object of 
the player who holds this hand, should be to save 
losing two by cards, and not to attempt winning 
the odd trick. Consequently he should play a 
back, or saving game, and not a forward, or win- 
ning game. In reality, strong as this hand looks, 
there are only two certain tricks in it — viz., ace, 
queen, knave of trumps — two of which must make, 
for the clubs may be trumped first round, and 
the king of spades may be taken by the ace. To 
consider, then, the lead under these circumstances, 
is most important. If the game were love all, the 
correct lead would be king of clubs, then if it won 
the first trick, the saving of the game is a certainty, 
and you may try to win it, and your best chance 
would be, to lead ace, then queen of trumps. You 
have thus shown your partner your strong suit in 
clubs, and your strength in trumps, and asked him 
to help you play that style of game. If this game 



Example of Bad Play. 67 

fail in consequence of the forward play, and of 
your partner's bad cards, you still do not lose the 
game, and there was more than a fair chance of 
your winning it. If, however, the score is three 
all, you lose the game under the same conditions. 

Having 011 one occasion seen this identical hand 
played by a thoughtless player who lost two by 
cards in consequence of playing for too much, I 
will give the results of the two methods of playing 
it:— 

First, the wrong way, at the score of three all. 
The holder of this hand I will call A., his partner 
B. His left-hand adversary X., his rioht-hand 
adversary Y. 

A. led king of clubs, which won, he then led ace 
of trumps, and followed with queen, both of which 
made tricks. Concluding that his partner held 
king of trumps, he led the small trump. Both X. 
and B. failed, and A. was now trapped, as Y. won 
the trump, and led his king of trumps catching A/s 
knave. Y. now led king of hearts, which won, 
then queen of spades, on which A. played king and 
X. ace, thus X. and Y. had won four tricks. X. led 
nine of hearts, B. played small heart, Y. won with, 
knave, led ace of hearts, then knave of spades and 
thirteenth trump, and won game. X. and Y. could 
win 110 other trick, as B. held ten of spades. Xow 



68 The Art of Practical Whist. 

I will give the hands as they were located. A.'s 
hand is already given, B. held two small trumps, 
the four and three ; three small hearts, two, three, 
four, with queen ; four spades, four, five, six, ten ; 
and three small clubs, two, four, seven. X. held 
ace, queen, knave and seven of spades ; nine and 
five diamonds ; ten, nine, eight, six hearts ; ten, 
eight, six clubs. 

Y. held king, ten, eight, seven, six diamonds ; 
ace, king, knave hearts ; knave and nine of clubs ; 
nine, eight, two spades. If now A. had led king, 
then queen, then ace of clubs, Y. would have 
trumped the ace of clubs, and led a trump after he 
had led his king of hearts, for his reasoning would 
probably have been as follows. Unless my partner 
hold an honour, the adversaries are tAvo by honours 
and game. If my partner hold even the knave, I 
shall make probably two tricks in trumps, and 
clear them all out ; and make a greater certainty 
of three tricks in hearts. On leading a small 
trump, A. played a false card, the queen, for 
reasons that you will see explained under the head 
of false cards, and he won this trick, and leads the 
five of clubs, which X. trumps with his nine, and 
leads a small heart. Y. finesses knave, and wins 
this trick, and concluding that his partner holds 
knave of trumps, he leads the eight of trumps, on 



The Lead from Five. 69 

which A. plays knave and wins, then ace of trumps, 
which leaves Y. with king of trumps only. 

A. has now won the following tricks : king and 
queen of clubs, queen, knave, ace of trumps, 
making five tricks. A. then plays his remaining 
club, and forces out the king of trumps, and A.'s 
two of trumps must win. Consequently, A. and 
B. win six tricks and game ; for if X. and Y. win 
the odd trick, it is no use to them. Consequently, 
by back play, A. and B. win the game, instead of 
X. and Y. doing so. 

ISTow I wish you particularly to study these hands, 
because although the first or original lead would be 
the same no matter what the score was, yet your 
second lead would be different, because in one case 
you have to guard against one event only, viz., to 
prevent the adversaries gaining two by cards. If 
vou were love all, vou have no fear of losing* the 
game, with such a hand as that I have given as held 
by A., and so you may venture to try and win it. 

The first or original lead, therefore, should in 
almost every case be from your numerically strong 
suit, and the card to lead of this suit will now be 
referred to. 

With five of a suit, lead the lowest but one, un- 
less this suit be headed — 

By ace, when lead the ace. 



/O The Art of Practical Whist. 

By ace, king ; in which case lead the king. 

By king, queen ; in which case lead the king. 

By queen, knave, ten ; in which case lead the 
queen, unless under one particular circumstance 
which I will refer to at the end of this letter. 

By queen, knave ; lead the queen, if you hold 
six — the smallest but one, if you hold only five. 

By ace, queen, knave and two others ; lead ace, 
then knave. 

By knave, ten, and small cards ; lead the lowest 
but one. 

[These leads have exceptions when certain cards 
are turned up in trumps, these exceptions will be 
given in a future letter.] 

By king, knave, ten ; lead the ten. 

By king, knave, ten, nine and others ; the nine 

By king, queen, knave ; lead the knave. 

Isow the object of leading a different card when 
vou have five of a suit, from what you would when 
you hold three or Tour, should be quite clear to 
you. 

If in your own hand you hold five of a suit, there 
are eight cards of the suit in the other three hands, 
and one of these three must have no more than two 
cards in the suit. Unless, therefore, you can extract 
the trumps, you cannot expect to make more than 
one trick in the suit, if you hold king, queen and 



Leads Continued. ji 

three others. If you led a small card of the suit, 
the first trick might be won by the adversaries with 
the knave, the second by the ace, and you might 
not win a single trick in that suit. If you lead 
king, from king, queen, the king either wins the 
first trick, or is taken by the ace. If taken by the 
ace, the queen is the best card left in of that suit. 

In some of the other cases named the lead of a 
particular card is for one of two objects, and some- 
times for a combination of both. It is either that 
you lead a high card to prevent the adversaries 
winning a trick with a low card, as in the case of 
ten from king, ten, knave ; ace then knave from 
ace, queen, knave and two others, to show five 
with queen, — thus to inform your partner as to 
the number of cards held by you in the suit you 
have led from, as in the case of leading the lowest 
but one when you hold five in the^suit, not headed 
by the cards named above. 

For example, if }^ou lead the knave of a suit and 
it wins, and you then lead the king, your partner 
knows you led originally from king, queen, knave 
and two others. If you led king originally and on 
this winning led the queen, he w T oulci know that 
you had led from king, queen, knave and one other, 
or from king, queen, knave only. 



72 The Art of Practical Whist. 

The Lead from Five or more Trumps. 

The lead from five or more trumps differs from 
the lead in other suits, because trumps must win 
on their merits, whereas with other suits, an ace or 
king may be trumped if held up too long. Also 
unless you have dealt yourself, you see the trump 
card in addition to those you yourself hold, and 
thus have some knowledge of the influence of this 
card on your own hand. Taking a palpable case, 
suppose your partner turned up ace of trumps, 
and you held king, queen and three others, you 
would not lead the king, as it might fall to the 
ace ; you would of course lead a small card. Again, 
if you held ace, king, and three other trumps, you 
know your ace, king, must win. So you play a 
small trump to give your partner two chances ; 
first, that he holds the knave, whilst the queen is 
held by his right-hand adversary. Secondly, that 
he hold the queen single, or with one other trump 
only. 

Again, suppose you held ace, queen, ten and two 
other trumps, and the knave is turned up to your 
right, you would lead the queen ; because, even if 
the queen be taken by the fourth hand, you hold 
ace and ten over him, and must win both, so that 
probably his knave never wins. If you led ace, 



Lead from Trumps. 73 

then queen, or any other card in trumps, both 
king and knave must make. 

If you hold the king, queen, and three others in 
trumps, you lead a small one, for you may fairly 
give your partner credit for some card which may 
extract either the knave or ace, and your next lead 
of kino; will take out the ace, and vou remain in 
command of trumps. If you led the king, you 
might catch your partner's knave or ten, if not the 
ace ; for as a rule you may conclude that if you 
hold a long suit your partner is probably short in 
this suit. 

Think over these leads, and you will see the 
reasons for them, and thus vou will understand the 
principle on which leads should be adopted ; thus 
a lead will not be a matter for memory, but for 
common sense, and you will not act stupidly with 
regard to them. For example, ten of trumps is 
turned up to your right, and you hold queen, 
knave, nine, four and three. Which card would 
you lead ? You ought at once to see it must be 
the queen. 

I mentioned that with queen, knave, ten, and 
two others of a suit, it was sometimes better not to 
lead the queen. The exception is, when you 
require but one trick from your partner to win or 
save the game, and this one trick can be made only 



74 The Art of Practical Whist. 

in this one suit which is not the trump suit, and 
by your partner. If your partner did not know 
that you required but one trick from him, he 
would not put his ace on your queen, and the 
fourth player if he held the king would win this 
trick, and probably your partner's ace might be 
trumped. If both ace and king are against you, 
it is no matter which card you play, but if you 
played the ten your partner would win with ace, 
and win or save you the game. 

This is a special case, in which you play so as to 
have the chances in your favour, and though these 
are slight, yet if you always play in such a manner 
as to have the chances slightly in your favour you 
must win, whereas if you play so as to have them 
always against you, you must lose. 

TVTien you hold ace, king, and live other trumps, 
you lead the king, then ace ; for as there are only 
six trumps in the other hands, you may bring them 
all down with your ace, king, — and you are 
tolerably sure to do so with a third round. 

Here then are the principal leads from a suit of 
five or more ; if you have any remarks to make I 
will reply to them previous to giving the leads 
from a suit of four- or three. 



What to do. 75 



EXQUIRY. 

From the principle yon have laid down for 
leads, I conclude that — 

1st. With ace, king, queen, and one other, not 
trumps, I should lead king, then queen. 
Should I follow with ace, or lead from a 
fresh suit ? 

2nd. Suppose also I hold ten, nine, six, five, two 
of trumps, hearts, and ten, nine, six," five, 
two, of diamonds, two small clubs, and one 
small spade, what ought I to lead ? 

3rd. Also with knave, ten, eight, seven, six, which 
card should be led in a suit not trumps, and 
why ? 

4th. With ace, king, queen of trumps, and a small 
trump, ace, king, queen, and three other 
cards in a suit ; should I lead the trumps 
first, or the king of the long suit ? 

5th. With king, queen, knave, and three others, 
and ace, king, queen, and one other trump, 
no other card above a six, what should I 
lead? 



LETTEE V. 

THE LEAD CONTINUED.— ANSWER TO 
ENQUIRIES. 

However thoroughly you may know the rules 
of leads, or which card to play second and third 
in hand, yet you can never by book knowledge do 
away with the necessity for judgment under almost 
every condition of the game, the lead, &c. This 
is what makes whist the fascinating study that it 
proves to be, and gives to the intelligent player an 
advantage over the mere book student. The game 
of an intelligent whist-player differs more from the 
mechanical game of the mere book-player than 
does the pianoforte performance of a skilled 
musician from the music ground out by a hand 
organ. I make these remarks on account of 
Question One in your last enquiry. 

You say with ace, king, queen, and one other, I 

should lead king, then queen, and you ask, should 
I follow with ace ? 

Whether you should follow with ace depends on 



What to Lead. yy 

several conditions. "What cards have fallen from 
the various hands ? How many trumps are in ? 
Has your partner shown weakness in this suit by 
a discard ? Have you reason to think that one 
adversary, weak in trumps, is likely to trump 
the ace ? Have you any other suit to lead, which, 
if you lead from, is not likely to damage your 
partner, &c, &c. ? These considerations must 
guide you, and not the bare fact of whether you 
should lead out the ace after having won with the 
king and queen. 

With regard to Enquiry Two. 

If the game was love all, I should lead the 
five of diamonds. You cannot afford to expose 
your partner to the risk of playing a game 
under the impression that you have a strong 
hand, as he would conclude you had, supposing 
you commenced with the trump lead. If you 
find your partner has ja strong suit or hand, you 
can ask for trumps, and thus show him, that 
although you were not strong enough to start 
with a lead of trumps, yet a trump lead is now 
advisable. 

It has been recommended by some writers on 
whist that you should always lead a trump if you 
hold five ; with this recommendation I cannot agree. 
If you hold six, it would almost always be right to 



78 The Art of Practical Whist. 

lead one, but with five it is a more doubtful pro- 
ceeding. 

Third. "With the suit you name, the card to 
lead would be the knave. You may possibly 
bring down queen, king, and ace, in the first 
round, and will then hold the best and third best 
card of the suit. If you led the seven, and your 
partner held no higher card, possibly the nine 
might win the first trick, and the ace and king 
would then be held up against you, and you 
might not win' a trick in this suit. 

Fourth. With ace, king, queen, and a small 
trump, and a six suit headed by ace, king, queen, 
you should commence with queen, king, ace of 
trumps. There are only nine other trumps in against 
you, all these may come down to your three rounds 
of trumps. Should one adversary hold four trumps, 
you extract three of these, and then force the 
remaining trump out with your long suit. You 
can again obtain the lead with your remaining 
trump, and continue your long suit, and so make 
four tricks in trumps, and five in your long suit. 
If the trumps out of your own hand were divided 
as follows, five in one adversary's hand, and two in 
each of the other hands, it might have been better 
to have forced this hand before you led a trump, 
if you could be sure of doing so ; but such a divi- 



Theory versus Practice. Jg 

sion as four trumps in your own hand, and five 
in one adversary's is unusual, and you must not 
play a hand on the assumption that something 
unusual prevails, — if you do, you will lose. I once 
knew a whist-player who played a most scientific 
game, but always lost ; because the game he 
played was based on an assumption that some- 
thing unusual prevailed. When he lost the game 
he would say, " I played perfectly correctly if the 
cards had been placed as I thought they were. I 
thought when you led the two of diamonds you 
must hold ace or king — and had nothing in 
spades, and so I played as I did." His error was 
in imagining that for which there were no grounds, 
and always playing a game suited to the unusual 
rather than to the usual one of the cards. 

Fifth. The queen of trumps, then king of 
trumps, then knave of the six suit, this tells 
your partner plainly that you hold ace of trumps 
and a powerftd suit. Your partner will naturally 
conclude that your strong suit is the suit from 
which you have led the knave, and as this lead is 
either from a long sequence headed by a knave, 
or king, queen, knave, and at least two others, he 
will know by the cards in his own hand which of 
these two it really is, and the whole plan of this 
hand will be clear to him. He ought to perceive 



8o The Art of Practical Whist. 



that you want the suit cleared of which you have 
led the knave, and that you hold the ace of trumps 
in order to gain the lead. In such a hand as this 
you will discover the stupid from the intelligent 
player, when your partner holds ace and two 
others of your long suit. If you lead the knave 
he may pass this, and allow your knave to make. 
When you follow with your king, a good player 
would take vour kino- with his ace, and return you 
a trump. A stupid player would allow your king- 
to make, and would hold up the ace, so that if 
you did succeed in getting out another trump 
or two your partners ace would take the lead 
out of your hand, and prevent you from mak- 
ing vour two or three remaining cards in this 
suit. 

Now there are some players who have played 
whist for probably twenty years, who never rise 
to even this simple style of play. They will 
say, U I did not like to take vour king with mv 
ace, because your king must win unless trumped 
by the adversaries. Consequently such a partner 
will spoil your plans, and he is one who probably 
announces every now and then, that he must 
give up whist, as he holds such bad cards that 
he always loses. If, instead of thus excusing 
himself, he were to say, 6t I play my cards with 



Fa Cse Th eo r ies. 8 1 

such a want of intelligence that I always lose," he 
would be stating a fact, instead of bringing forward 
a theory relative to his being a singular phe- 
nomenon as regards the cards dealt to him. 

With four in a suit lead the lowest, unless 
headed by ace king or king queen, in which case 
lead king. With three lead the lowest, unless 
headed by two high cards, such as queen knave, 
knave ten, ifcc, when lead the highest, or with 

knave and two others, when lead the knave. 
6 



LETTEE VI. 

RETURN LEADS. 

Return or second leads differ from original 
leads, and for many reasons. When it is your 
original lead, the position of the other cards are 
entirely unknown to you ; as soon as you see 
other cards on the table, or have seen another lead, 
you can begin to speculate on the form of game 
to be adopted, from noting the card led by your 
partner or your adversary. 

Assuming, then, first, that your partner has led, 
say a small heart, and you win this trick. The 
question is, what card or suit to return him \ 
The great object of play at whist being to inform 
your partner of the state of your own hand, it is 
not customary to at once return to him this suit, 
unless under the following circumstances. First, 
that you hold the best card of this suit, when it is 
desirable to play it out, in order to prevent the 
chance of blocking your partner's strong suit. 
Second, that you are very weak in all other suits, 
and consider it undesirable to open a fresh suit. 



The Retttru Lead, 83 



Third, that von hold only two of the suit, and 

J %J L J 

having won the first trick in it, you return to your 
partner your only remaining card when you wish 
to have the option of trumping the third round. 

Under these circumstances it is better to lead to 
your partner the correct card of your own strong 
suit ; you may thus assume that your partner, by 
his original lead, has informed you which is his 
strong suit, whilst you by your return lead give 
him similar information. 

"When you return your partner's lead, be careful 
that you return him the highest of two remaining 
cards, the lowest of three remaining cards. This is 
one of the most important elementary rules at whist, 
as it shows your partner whether you held origi- 
nally three or four of the suit. Thus, with king, 
ten, four in a suit, if you win with the king you 
return the ten. If, however, you hold king, ten, 
four, and two, if you win with the king you ought 

y * m CD t, iD 

to return the two. The fall of your card in the 
third round informs your partner at once whether 
you held three or four in this suit. This informa- 
tion is more essential in trumps than it is in other, 
suits. If you mislead your partner, and tell him 
by your play that you hold only three trumps when 
yon hold four, he may probably draw your re- 
maining trump, and thus lose a trick. 



84 The Art of Practical Whist. 

I consider that this return of the proper card is 
the first and most important step to correct whist- 
playing ; and the partner who neglects it deserves 
no other designation than that of a very bad 
player. 

There is one important consideration which 
should guide you as regards returning your 
partner's lead, and this is I consider another of 
the most essential elements to success in whist, 
viz. : to avoid leading up to a strong suit held by 
that plaver who is on your right. 

Suppose your partner lead a suit, of which you 
hold knave and two small cards, and that third in 
hand you win with the knave. To return this suit 
would be imprudent, for the fact of your knave 
winning shows the strength to be held either by 
your partner or your right-hand adversary. If you 
lead this suit again, you must place your partner 
at a disadvantage, as the right-hand adversary can 
win or save a good card. By waiting you may 
foi'ce the lead into this adversary's hand, and 
oblige him eventually to lead this suit up to your 
partner. To lead through the strong and up to 
the weak is one of the first principles of success in 
whist, as you may soon prove by playing a game 
of Double Dummy with yourself, and exposing 
all the cards. 



The Lead from Six Cards. 85 

The great advantage of having the original lead 
is, that you can develop the game in any direction 
you may select. You may commence with a 
trump or a long suit, or strong cards, as you may 
consider prudent. You may also inform your 
partner fairly how many cards you hold in a suit, 
and thus enable him to count your hand. As 
some of these methods of conveying information 
to your partner are not generally played, I will 
now call your attention to them. 

You have already seen how by leading ace, then 
knave, from ace, queen, knave, and two others, you 
can give information to your partner that you hold 
five cards in the suit ; also if you lead a penulti- 
mate, you also inform him that you hold five in 
the suit. With the exception of some few players 
to whom I have had the good fortune to sit oppo- 
site in a rubber, and who have been satisfied that 
the system was sound, I have not generally met 
players who could inform me by their leads that 
thev held six in a suit. Such information, how- 
ever, is easily conveyed to an observant partner. 
The plan I have adopted is as follows : — ■ 

With five of a suit, not headed by winning cards, 
or by any which require exceptional leads, I lead 
the penultimate. With a six suit, not headed by 
winning cards, I lead the lowest but two, when 



86 The Art of Practical Whist. 

such a card cannot be taken as the highest of a 
three suit. In the second round of the suit, I 
play the lowest card, having the intermediate card 
in my hand. An observant partner will note the 
absence of this intermediate card from the two 
rounds of the suit, and will place it and four 
others in my hand. The following is an example 
of this system : — 

Hold queen, nine, seven, four, three, two of hearts. 
I lead the four, second hand plays five, partner plays 
ten, fourth hand wins with knave and returns king. 
On this I play the two, and my partner immediately 
places five hearts at least in my hand. ]\Iv left 
adversary plays eight, and my partner trumps. 
The three of hearts must now be either in my hand 
or in that of my right adversarv. If it is in mv 
hand, my partner knows I led from six hearts ; if 
it is on my right, that I led from five. Either by 
another lead or a discard I show my partner my 
three of hearts. Pie can then count three more 
hearts in my hand, and consequently knows one 
card more than he could know had I played him 
the penultimate only. AVhenever, then, you hold 
a six suit, the three lowest cards in which are six, 
four, three, or six, three, two, or four, three, two, 
or five, four, three, &a, you can indicate six in the 
suit by leading the third card from the lowest, just 



The Lead from Six Cards. 87 

as you indicate five by leading the penultimate. 
Again in a lead from a suit of six headed by ace. 
If you lead ace, then smallest, your partner credits 
you with five in the suit. If you lead ace, then 
smallest but one, he may credit you with six origin- 
ally in the suit. I have found this system very 
effective in such a case as the following. I hold 
ace, knave, five, four, three, two of hearts. My 
partner holds four trumps, and the king, queen, and 
small heart. I lead ace of hearts, second hand 
plays six, partner seven, third hand eight. I then 
lead three of hearts, my left adversary plays ten, 
partner queen, and fourth player nine. Neither 
adversary has asked for trumps, consequently the 
two of hearts must be in my hand, and three other 
hearts besides. My partner leads trumps, and 
takes the first opportunity of getting rid of his king 
of hearts, so as not to block my suit. Had he be- 
lieved I held five hearts only, he might have re- 
tained his king over the knave, which he might 
have believed against him. The advantage is not 
only that you reveal an additional card to your 
partner, telling him you have six instead of five, 
but you may enable him, with a suit of six, to clear 
your suit by a discard. Headed by ace, queen, 
knave, I still play ace, then knave, as this play 
must clear your suit, and you cannot then reveal 



88 The Art of Practical Whist. 



more than five in the suit. The opportunity may 
occur, however, many times during a rubber; and 
I have experienced its practical value very often. 
One of the best players I ever met once remarked 
to me that he considered the echo to the call, 
the penultimate lead, and showing six in a suit, 
were the great advantages which a skilled player 
possessed over a moderate player. Even average 
observation will enable men to play other parts of 
the game, but care and watchfulness are needed for 
the above three systems. 

The lead of ace, king, queen, knave, is another 
important lead. If you lead king, then queen, you 
show ace in your hand, but not knave. If von lead 
king, then knave, you indicate queen and ace, for 
you would not start in this way either from three 
or four in the suit if two were small cards. In 
trumps you may lead knave, then queen, this u up 
hill " lead being indicative of four honours. With 
ace, queen, knave, ten, if you lead ace, then ten, 
it would indicate four, when your knave fell. 
With ace, queen, knave, ten, and a small card, ace, 
then knave, indicates five in the suit. The power 
of thus indicating the number of cards in vour 
suit by the lead and fall of subsequent cards, is a 
point well worth your study. 

When you have won a trick in a suit from which 



Return Lead. 89 



you have discarded, you return the card, according 
to the number in your hand, not the number you 
originally held. Thus if you had ruffed once, and 
held ace, eight, four, and two, and you had ruffed 
with the two, return the eight if you w r in with ace. 



LETTER VII. 

WHAT TO PLAY SECOND HAND. 

It is a much more simple problem to decide 
what card to play second hand, than it is to know 
.what card to lead. 

As a general rule the lowest card is the card to 
play second hand. 

The principal exceptions are these : — 

If you hold three cards in the suit led, headed 
by two moderately high cards, such as queen, 
knave, and the three, or knave, ten, and a small 
card, or king, queen, and small cards, play the 
knave with queen, knave, the ten with knave, ten, 
and the queen with queen, king. If you hold 
four cards, such as queen, knave, and two small 
cards, or knave, ten, and two small cards, play the 
lowest card. But with king, queen, and others, 
play queen. 

Cover a high card as a rule ; that is if the nine is 
led and you hold ten put the ten on the nine, or 
if the ten be led and you hold the queen put the 



Play Second Hand. 91 

queen on. The lead from king, knave, ten, is a 
favourite lead, and if you do not cover the ten, it 
will draw your partner's ace if he hold it, and the 
adversaries remain in command of this suit. 

With ace, queen, ten, the queen should be 
played second hand, except in trumps, if a low 
card be played. 

If you hold the ace of a suit and the knave is 
led, the ace should be played on the knave. If 
your partner hold the king, it is better that he 
should hold this king over queen to his right. If 
he hold the queen, it is better he should have the 
king to his right, 

With five or more of a suit headed by the ace, 
it is better to put the ace on second in hand. 
With king, queen, and five of a suit, the queen 
should be played second hand. 

The reason for such play is evident ; with king, 
queen, and three others of a suit, it is impossible 
that three rounds can take place without this suit 
failing in some hand. The ace may be to your 
right, the knave to your left, so that if you played 
a small card second in hand, the knave would win 
the first round, the ace the second, and you might 
never make a trick in this suit. 

With ace, queen, knave, play knave. 

With ace, king, knave, play king. 



92 The Art of Practical Whist. 



"With ace, king, and others, play king. 

With ace, knave, ten, and others, play lowest. 

In the second round of a suit you may often 
play a valuable protecting card to your partner, 
which wins a trick and saves your partner's hand. 
For example, suppose you hold ten, three, and 
two of a suit, led by your right-hand adversary. 
On first round play your two. Queen is played 
third hand, and your partner wins with king. On 
this suit being led a second time by your right- 
hand adversary, play your ten. You know knave 
is not held by your left-hand adversary, but he 
may hold the nine, which, if your partner hold 
only ace and small ones, will draw the ace, and 
leave the original leader with knave. Your ten 
can be of no value if held up, as it must fall to 
ace or knave in the third round. 

With king and one small card, or with queen 
and one small card, it is best to play the small 
card unless to cover a high card led. 

Second Play in. Trumps. 

The second play in trumps differs from the 
second play in plain suits, because trumps must 
win on their merits. So with king, queen, and 
two or more others, the queen is not usually played 



Play Second Hand. 93 

second hand, unless a card is turned up which 
necessarily points to sucli play. For example, if 
ace were turned up to your right, and you hold 
king, queen, and one other trump, you must play 
your queen, otherwise you may only make one 
trick in trumps. By playing your queen you 
secure two tricks. 

. As a rule both in trumps and in other suits you 
must consider the cards in your hand of this suit 
and cover or not accordingly ; for example, you hold 
king, knave, eight, and seven, and the ten is led, 
you cover witli the knave ; or with queen, knave, 
eight, and six, you would cover the seven with 
the eight. You must reason out these cases, as to 
give all the examples would occupy too much space. 
It may often be of the greatest consequence to 
ascertain whether your partner holds an honour, 
as this may decide the question whether you may 
or may not play for game ; so with ace, king, and 
two small trumps, it may be desirable to play a 
small card on the knave, — the queen must be held 
by either your partner or left-hand adversary, and 
as your ace and king must make, it may be desir- 
able to pass this up. If the knave win, then your 
king ought to be played to the next trump led. 
"When your partner has shown that he can trump 
a suit, and wishes to do so, you should if possible 



94 The Art of Practical Whist, 



stop the lead of trumps if you hold the winning 
card, so as to give jour partner the opportunity 
of making a small trump. 

It is often advisable when second player to hold 
up the best card on the second round, this in 
trumps is more advisable than it is in plain suits. 
For example, right-hand adversary leads a small 
trump, you hold queen, three, and two of trumps, 
second hand plays the two, third hand the king, 
your partner the ace. Your right-hand adver- 
sary on gaining the lead, leads another small 
trump. !Now you know that your queen of 
trumps must win, so you pass this trick to give 
your partner a chance, and play your three on it. 
Even if third player hold knave, he may not like 
to play it, as he supposes the queen is to his left. 
He may probably finesse, and your partner may 
make the ten, whilst you still hold the command- 
ing card. In plain suits this style of play must 
be practised with great caution. You must al- 
ways bear in mind that the third round of a suit 
is very likely to be trumped, and if you do not 
win second hand, you may probably fail to make 
the best card ; but in trumps this is not the case, 
you must make the best trump at any time. 



LETTEE Till. 

WHAT CARD TO PLAY THIRD IN HAND. 

The play of the third hand is simple. You 
should play the highest card in your hand as third 
player, unless you finesse or hold a sequence, when 
you play the lowest card of this sequence, pro- 
vided you have not a higher card than those com- 
prising the sequence. 

First as to the finesse. This I will divide into 
two parts, viz., the finesse speculative and the 
arbitrary finesse. * The first yon may or mav not 
attempt, the second you must adopt. Simple as 
are the principles connected with these finesses 
mistakes are of most constant occurrence, so it is 
worthwhile to thoroughly understand this depart- 
ment of whist, and so to think it out as to make 
the subject clear to yourself. . 

The finesse speculative is this. You hold the 
best and the third best card in a suit— sav ace and 
queen — your partner leads this suit, and third in 
hand you finesse your queen. It is almost 



96 The Art of Practical Whist. 

always better to finesse the queen with ace, queen, 
unless you urgently require the lead, or require 
only one trick to win or save the game, or hold 
only two cards — ace, queen — and know one trump 
remains in the adversaries' hands. The principles 
of this finesse are that you play against an even 
chance that the kino; of the suit is to your right, 
and that your partner, from leading the suit, will 
probably himself hold knave or king. 

This finesse speculative may be carried further 
in trumps than in plain suits, on account of the 
intrinsic value of trumps. But to adopt the finesse 
speculative too much is dangerous play. With 
king, knave, and a small card, it is not considered 
prudent to finesse the knave, unless your partner 
by other leads has shown weakness in this suit ; so 
that you may consider one principle of the finesse 
speculative to be — finesse in a suit in which your 
partner must be weak ; do not finesse in a suit in 
which your partner must be strong. Before fines- 
sing you should quickly impress on your memory 
what card or cards you are finessing against, and 
what will be the result in case your finesse fails. 
For example, you hold ace, knave, ten, and two of 
spades. Your partner leads the nine, second 
player plays three. The king and queen are now 
against yon, and from the lead of nine, it is prob- 



Fin esse Spec it lative. 97 



able neither of these are in your partner's hand. 

You now pass the nine, and if this is taken by the 
king, fourth hand, youmay conclude that you hold 
ace, knave over queen to your right ; consequently 
unless you lead ace, yon must make ace and knave, 
unless either is trumped. 

When a finesse speculative is successful, you 
should wait for another lead from your partner 
and not return at once, unless you hold the best 
card only, and not the remaining third best card. 
For example, with ace, queen, knave, if your 
knave wins third in hand you should wait for your 
partner to lead this suit again, when your queen 
will make even if the king is in the hand of the 
right-hand adversary. 

The arbitrary finesse is the following. You hold 
queen, ten, and three of spades, you lead the three, 
partner wins with king and returns to you a small 
spade. You know that the ace is now to your left, 
but you do not know where the knave is. It ma)' be 
to your right ; your queen if played will be taken 
by the ace. If both ace and knave be to your left, 
both will win. If, however, the knave be to your 
right, your ten will draw the ace, and your queen 
remains the best card. Consequently, you are 
bound t<> play the ten. Also, if you hold king, ten, 
and a small card, and having led a small card, 



98 The Art of Practical Whist. 



your partner wins with queen, and returns the suit, 
you must finesse the ten for the same reasons. It 
can be no disadvantage making this finesse, and it 
may be an advantage, so it is arbitrary oft you to 
make it. 

The finesse in trumps must be guided by — 

1st, the necessity for taking out two rounds, or 
otherwise. 

2nd, by the card turned up. 

If a double ruff were threatened, and your 
partner led you trumps, it might be advisable to 
put in ace with ace, queen, and return a small 
trump so as to secure two rounds. If the king 
were turned up to your left it would be absurd to 
put in queen third in hand with ace, queen. To 
finesse against an adversary on your right, who has 
shown that he is either very weak or has none 
of the suit, is absurd. This is called finessing 
against your partner, and is bad play. Also to 
finesse queen with ace, queen, is wrong when you 
require only one trick to win or save the game. 



LETTER IX. 

PLAY FOURTH IN HAND. 

It is the duty of the fourth hand to win the 
trick if he can, and with the lowest available card, 
unless this trick be his partners, or unless he wishes 
for good reasons to leave or place the lead in the 
hand of that player whose trick it may happen to 
be. Except, therefore, in very exceptional cases, 
it is not advisable to refuse to win the trick when 
fourth player. The exceptions to winning fourth 
in hand will be fully explained under the head of 
Throwing the Lead, 

Considerations relative to play as leader, second, 

and third player. 

If you will commit to memory and reason on 
the principles of play under the above conditions, 
you have learnt the alphabet of whist but nothing 
more. Do not run away with the erroneous idea 
that, because you know the book-rules of leads, &c, 



ioo The Art of Practical Whist. 

and probably cany in your head a synopsis of 
these, that you can play whist. The art of whist 
has yet to be acquired, and although you may 
acquire a thorough knowledge of how and when 
to throw the lead, what to discard and when to dis- 
regard rule, there is still a large field of study 
connected with the art of the game which has yet 
to be considered. The first subject, however, to 
which I will call attention, on the supposition 
that you are now well acquainted with all that 
has already been written in these pages, is that 
contained in the following. 

On throwing the lead into a particular hand. 

From your knowledge of what has already been 
written, you will perceive what an advantage you 
would gain if you could be led up to as fourth 
player when you hold ace and queen, or king 
singly guarded, or any combination of cards similar 
to these. In the first example you must make 
both ace and queen, in the second you must make 
the king, unless of course either is trumped. 

As I before remarked, skilled play comes in to- 
wards the end of a hand, whilst a mere memory of 
rules will guide you at the commencement. As 
an example of the most simple kind, I will suppose 



Placing the Lead. 101 

you hold seven of hearts trumps, the ace, queen of 
spades, ace and queen of clubs. You require three 
tricks to win or save the game. You know the 
ten of trumps is held by your left-hand adversary, 
the diamonds have all been played, the king and 
three other spades are in some hands, you do not 
know where, the king, and other clubs are also in ; 
no other trumps are in. Now, what card should 
you lead ? I will suppose your left-hand adversary 
holds the king of clubs, and also the king, and other 
spades. Consider the position of these cards well, 
and you will see that you must make three tricks if 
you lead your twelfth trump, and throw the lead to 
your left. You must then be led up to in either 
spades or clubs ; if in spades you make ace and 
queen, if in clubs you make also ace and queen. 
Play the cards in any other way and you will 
probably make one trick less, unless your right- 
hand adversary lead a spade. This simple case is 
well worth your study, as it involves a principle. 
I will give you another example. You hold 
three cards in your hand — viz., ace, knave, and two 
of trumps, the king, queen, ten, nine, and two 
other trumps are in against you. Two tricks are 
required to win the gar^e. Your left-hand adver- 
sary leads king of trumps, your partner and right- 
hand adversary follow suit with low cards. If 



102 The Art of Practical Whist. 

now you take the king with your ace, you must 
lead either your knave or your two. The knave 
will be taken by the queen, and your two by the 
ten or nine. If you allow the kino; to win, and 
thus throw the lead to your left, your aee, knave 
are led up to, and you must win with both. 

Again, suppose king is turned up to your left, 
and your partner has shown by previous play 
that he holds ace, knave. Three cards, trumps, 
are in each hand. You hold queen, four, and three. 
Left-hand adversary leads small trump, your part- 
ner plavs ten, rio-lit-liand adversary plavs six. The 
trick is now your partner's. If you allow your 
partner to win this trick, he must lead up to king, 
guarded, and king wins. If, however, you take 
your partner's ten with your queen, you take the 
lead, and lead through the king up to ace, knave, 
when the king does not make. 

Another example. You hold ace, ten, and a small 
trump, knave is turned up to your right, your 
partner leads queen of trumps, right-hand adver- 
sary puts on king of trumps, he holding king, 
knave, nine. If you put your ace on king, you 
lead up to knave, nine, and lose both your other 
tricks. If to the king you play your small trump, 
vou must make ace and ten. 

m 

Now the principles pointed out above hold good 



Holding back Ace. 103 

in all parts of the game, but more especially when 
onlv six or seven cards remain in each hand. And 
if you were to ask me what I considered the most 
important item connected with the art of whist, 
I should reply, knowing when and where to throw 
the lead. 

There are some players, who when they hold 
ace, knave, and a small card in a suit, will not 
cover a king led by their left-hand adversary, as 
they hope the suit will be again led up to them, 
when they will secure both ace and knave. In 
plain suits such play is dangerous, and the advan- 
tages questionable %ohen this occurs early in the 
game. In the first place you mislead your partner, 
and if he hold only one of the suit he will ruff the 
next round. In the second place the adversary 
may change the suit, and you may be led through ; 
or if trumps be thus led, the king may be a single 
card of the suit. Consequently you must weigh 
well the risk you incur by such play, and compare 
this with the probable advantages. 

Such play, however, sometimes in desperate 
cases may be adopted, and I once won a remark- 
able rubber by similar play, and against two good 
players. I dealt and turned up two of diamonds, 
and held ace, ten and three besides. Ace, king, 
queen, ten and two small hearts, one small club, 



104 The Art of Practical Whist. 

two small spades. The score was game and game, 
three all. 

]\Iy left-hand adversary led the king of trumps, 
on this 1 played my two ; he followed with queen 
of trumps, on this I played my three. He held 
knave and eight besides, and concluding his part- 
ner must hold the ace, he led his small trump. 
My partner failed to follow suit, and I won this 
trick with my ten, led my ace, drew the knave, 
and made six tricks- in hearts. On examining 
the cards it was found that the adversaries held 
four honours in clubs and four honours in spades, 
the highest card in my partners hand being a 
nine ; thus I won two by cards against two by 
honours. 

The play of the original leader was faulty, as he 
was playing for too much. He should have played 
solely to prevent me from making two by cards, 
and this by any other system of play he could have 
accomplished. That, however, to which I wish to 
call your attention is, that it was a desperate case, 
and any other play on my part would have lost 
the game. It was essential that the lead should be 
hi ray hand when the last trump was drawn, and 
as it was most improbable that either adversary 
would lead a heart, this play alone could win the 
game. 



The " Cotip" 10 



o 



What has been termed tlie grand cowp is nothing 
more than jjlaclng the lead at a particular stage of 
the game. For example, you hold ace, queen and 
a small trump spades, the losing diamond of which 
your partner holds the best card, and adversaries 
each hold a diamond. The king of trumps is to 
your right, and is guarded. Your partner plays 
ace of hearts, second player plays small heart. 
You have now the option of throwing away the 
diamond, or of trumping the ace of hearts. A 
careless or unskilled player would of course throw 
away his diamond. His partner would then prob- 
ably play his best diamond, which you would be 
compelled to trump, and would have to lead ace 
or queen up to king guarded, when of course your 
adversaries win one trick. If, however, you had 
trumped your partner's ace of hearts, and had led 
him the diamond, he would have had the lead 
when onlv two cards remained in, and he would 
have been compelled to lead a trump through the 
king up to your ace and queen, when of course the 
adversaries do not make a trick. The grand coup 
therefore, is merely a variety of the principle of 
placing or throwing the lead into a particular hand 
at a particular time. 

It often happens during the play of a hand that 
you know the third round of a suit will be won by 



106 The Art of Practical Whist. 

the adversaries, you have at the same time no 
strong suit that it is advisable to lead. Instead, 
therefore, of opening a fresh and weak suit, it is 
far better to place the lead in the adversaries' 
hands, especially if you can place this lead in the 
hand of your right-hand adversary, and oblige 
him to lead up to your partner. 

The combinations connected with throwing the 
lead are almost endless, and afford ample oppor- 
tunities to the skilful player. It may occur by 
refusing to trump over an adversary, as in the 
following example. You hold ace, six of spades, 
trumps and knave of diamonds. Left-hand adver- 
sary holds five and three of spades and two of 
hearts, partner holds seven and four of hearts and 
two of diamonds. Right-hand adversary holds 
king, ten of spades and five of clubs. Left-hand 
adversary leads two of hearts ; your partner puts 
his four on this ; right-hand adversary trumps 
with ten. If now you over trump with ace you 
make no other trick, if you throw away your 
knave of diamonds you make both ace and six of 
trumps. 

Again, suppose you hold ace, queen of trumps, 
spades, king and two of hearts, and the king of 
trumps is turned up to your right. Ace of hearts 
is led by your left or right hand adversary. On 



Taking the Lead. 107 

this card you throw your king to prevent having 
the lead in the second round, and being compelled 
to lead up to king of trumps guarded. If your 
partner hold queen of hearts, you win a trick by 
throwing your king. If the adversaries hold the 
queen, you don't lose a trick by such play, as the 
lead must come to you from right to left. If, 
therefore, you play so that you may win, and 
cannot lose by a particular card being played, you 
will in the end be a winner. 

You should then bear in mind that on the posi- 
tion of the lead at the end of the game depends 
at least one trick, and you should watch your 
partner's play to note when and where he is de- 
sirous of retaining or of getting rid of the leads. 
As an example of such a case, the following will 
serve. 

I hold ace, queen of spades, trumps, ace and 
knave of hearts. King and knave of trumps and 
two small hearts are held by my right-hand adver- 
sary, and are the only trumps in besides my two. 
My partner holds king, queen and two small hearts, 
and leads the king. On the king I play my ace 
and return the knave. It is now for my partner to 
win or lose a trick. If he allow my knave of 
hearts to win, he obliges me to lead up to king, 
knave of trumps, when the king must win. If he 



io8 The Art of Practical Whist. 

take my knave with his queen, lie leads through 
king, knave and we win every trick. 

You may probably ask, what is there to guide 
} t ou to such results ? I reply, that if you have 
observed the fall of the cards you ought to know, 
or to be tolerably certain as to the position of the 
four remaining trumps. If I take your king with 
my ace, I must have some reason for doing so. 
You must know that with four trumps remaining 
in, your queen of hearts cannot make a trick, in- 
dependent of my knave ; you should, therefore, 
give up all idea of winning with the queen, unless 
you play it on any knave and concentrate all your 
thoughts on the best position for the lead after 
this trick is won. Such reasoning, combined with 
the value you ought to give for my reasons for 
playing my ace, should show you at once my ob- 
ject and you ought to play accordingly. 

The feebleness of some old whist-players in 
cases similar to this is such as to cause them to 
lose a trick almost every other hand. 

You will now probably agree with me that the 
art of placing the lead is one of the most important 
in whist. It comes in towards the end of the game 
when mere book players not gifted with much 
intelligence break down. The cases that occur are 
numerous, and when it is borne in mind that these 



Placing the Lead. 109 



problems (unlike those at chess in which a 
quarter of an hour's thought may be given) must 
be thought out and acted on instantly, it is evident 
that great observation, practice and intelligence 
are required to make a first-class player in this 
particular branch of the game. 



LETTER X. 

TRUMPS, THEIR USE AND ABUSE. 

I have much to say on the use and abuse of 
trumps ; first, because they may be called the 
artillery of your hand, as they carry everything 
before them ; secondly, because long experience has 
compelled me to differ slightly from former writers 
on whist as regards the practical application of 
trumps. It has been stated that the first use of 
trumps is to extract your adversaries' trumps in 
order that you may briny in your own or your part- 
ners long suit. This application of trumps must 
be good for one side only, viz., that side which 
possesses long suits. This side wishes to extract 
the trumps. Then it follows that the other two 
partners cannot wish trumps to be drawn. If 
trumps are not drawn, the long suits will be ruffed. 
So whilst that side holding the long suits wishes 
trumps to be drawn, the other side do not and can- 
not wish it ; for it is impossible in a battle that 
what is advantageous for one side, is also advan- 



The Use of Trumps. 1 1 1 

tageous for the other. If it is possible to extract 
all the trumps, the remaining cards win on their 
merits. If, however, you and your partners have 
the minority in winning cards and long suits, it 
follows that getting trumps out is the game favour- 
able to vour adversaries. The adversaries when 
possessing long suits wish to extract trumps to 
prevent you or your partner from ruffing these. 
It therefore follows, that if you or your partner do 
ruff, you are doing the very thing which your 
adversaries would, if they could, prevent. 

Whilst, therefore, it is true that one great use of 
trumps is to extract trumps from the adversaries, 
and thus to make your own or your partner's long 
suit, yet you must be careful that in this endeavour 
you do not play the adversary's game, and whilst 
you are extracting his trumps, your own are also 
extracted, and you have by your own act disarmed 
yourself and your partner, and left the adversaries 
in command of the trump suit ; that is, with the 
remaining trump and a long suit to bring in. An 
error of this kind usually arises from playing a 
forward instead of a back game, and endeavouring to 
make a large score when you ought to have played 
to save the adversaries from making a large score. 
In such a case instead of attempting to get out 
trumps in order to establish your own long suit, 



H2 The Art of Practical Whist. 

you should have been contented to make one or two 
tricks in your long suit and one or two tricks in 
trumps by ruffing your adversaries' winning cards. 
To attempt to extract trumps and to establish a 
long suit when you are not strong enough to do so, 
is a most fatal error. 

If then you are not strong enough to extract 
trumps and establish your own strong suit, it 
follows as almost certain that the adversaries are 
strong enough to extract your trumps and establish 
their strong suit ; consequently the best use you can 
put your trumps to is to win tricks with them by 
ruffing the adversaries' winning; cards if von are 
given a chance of doing so. This fact being estab- 
lished, I now come to a principle which has been 
laid down by former writers on whist, but which 
seems to have been practically misapplied by many 
orthodox players. I refer to the heading, " Do not 
force your pariner, if you are weak in frumps" 

Following this direction many players will never 
force their partner if they are weak in trumps, and 
thus many a trick and many a rubber is lost. If I 
were to enumerate the number of rubbers I have 
seen lost by one player weak in trumps refusing to 
force his partner, I should count them by thousands. 
I have therefore often remarked to such partners, 
when they have urged that they could not force me 



Abase of Trumps. 113 



as they were weak in trumps, " Say, you would not 
allow me to make a trick in trumps, because you 
were weak in them." 

Under the heading quoted above, former writers 
have carefullv pointed out when vou may force 
your partner although you are yourself weak ; viz., 
when he has shown a desire to be forced, or weak- 
ness in trumps : when you have a cross ruff : when 
strength in trumps has been declared against you, 
and when one trick will win or save the game. To 
refuse to force your partner merely because you are 
yourself weak. I consider a most dangerous game. 
You, in the first place, refuse to allow your partner 
to win a trick by trumping. That is, you throw 
away a trick for some object, and what is this 
object I If it be merely to inform your partner 
and adversaries that von are weak, the information 
is dearly purchased. If it be because you fear to 
reduce your partner*.- strength in trumps, you must 
have assumed that he is very strong in trumps : 
strong enough, if not forced, to extract the adver- 
saries' trumps and establish a long suit. Then 
comes the enquiry, what right have you to assume 
such strength in your partner's hand \ If he has 
neither asked for trumps nor has discarded a card 
which may he the cmmnencement of an ask for 
trumps, you by refusing to give him the option of 



H4 The Art of Practical Whist. 

a ruff, practically say, " I will not give you the 
chance of making a small trump, because I am weak 
in them." Immediately the adversaries gain the 
lead they extract all your and your partner's trumps, 
and make the card or cards which your partner 
might otherwise have ruffed. Do not run away 
with the idea that to refuse to force your partner 
because you are weak in trumps is a safe game. It 
is a dangerous game, because you. are refusing to 
make a certain trick on the speculation that you 
may probably win more by so doing ; if your specu- 
lation is incorrect, you lose bv your reticence. 

If you have any doubt about this question, deal 
out the cards for a few hands of Double Dummy, 
and note in how many instances you would lose a 
o'ame which you might have saved had you forced 
your partner. 

As a simple example of such a hand, take the 
following. You hold : knave, five and three of 
spades, (trumps) ; ace, queen, knave, five and two 
of hearts ; ace and two of clubs : king, four and 
three of diamonds. Score, love all. 

It is your lead, and you commence with the ace 
of hearts, to which your partner plays the tw<>. 
You follow with the knave, on which second player 
plays king, your partner drops ton, and third player 

-mall heart. Your partner, therefore, has not 



Jhbuse of Trumps, 115 

asked for trumps, and he probably holds no more 
hearts. Left-hand adversary leads a small club, 
partner plays another small club, third hand plays 
knave, you win with ace, and return ten of clubs, 
which your partner wins with king. 

Your partner will now fairly conclude that you 
have no more clubs, but he is weak in trumps, 
holding three only, the highest, the ten ; so he leads 
a diamond, as he considers he is bound not to force 
you, because he is weak in trumps. Your king of 
diamonds plaved third in hand is taken bv the ace. 
Adversaries then make ace, king, queen of trumps, 
queen, knave of diamonds, queen of clubs, and 
thirteenth trump — nine tricks ; that is, three by 
cards, two by honours, a treble. 

Under such circumstances, your partner will 
probably say, " Of course I could not force you in 
clubs, as I was so weak in trumps," whereas he 
should have seen that by your original lead you 
had yourself shown no strength in trumps, so to 
make a trick in trumps was all you could hope to 
do. Also to lead from a suit of diamonds, in 
which he had no court card, was rash in the 
extreme. Yet such is the almost certain play of 
the individual who is fettered by the idea that he 
cannot force his partner if weak in trumps. Had 
he led a club, vou would have ruffed this, vou then 



ii 6 The Art of Practical Whist. 

lead him a heart which lie ruffs, and von have 

made live tricks and saved the game. Each has 
forced the other though weak in trumps. 

It is impossible to overrate the advantages of 
saving a game which might have been lost. It so 
often happens that when one side is at the score of 
four, this side will hold great cards, and may score 
two by honours, and obtain three bv cards, most of 
which is wasted strength. If they had won the 
first game, they would then have gained a bumper, 
whereas they are only one game to the good, so 
that it cannot be too strongly impressed upon you 
that when you see it is impossible to win the game, 
and only probable that you may make a score, you 
should concentrate your attention on saving the 
game. I would therefore, after carefully weighing 
all the arguments that have been urged by former 
writers, and comparing these with the results of my 
own experience in whist, be disposed to reverse 
the directions connected with forcing, and say, 
Unless you?* partner has shown great strength in 
trumps, a wish to get them drawn, or has refused 
to ruff a doubtful card, (jive him the opt inn of 
making a small trumj), unless you have some good 
reason for not doing so, other titan a weak suit of 
trumps in your own hand. 

Many players have asked me, how they can 

1 t, . / I- 



When to "Force!' 117 

possibly tell at the commencement of a hand, 
whether they should, or should not, force me when 
they are weak in trumps. 

I have always given the following as that which 
should guide them. Suppose you hold ace, king, 
and three other hearts, two small trumps, and no 
other winning cards. You lead king; of hearts ; on 
this 1 play the four. You then lead ace of hearts ; 
on this I throw the two of spades. My discard of 
the two of spades shows I am not asking for 
trumps ; therefore, I do not hold five trumps, nor 
four trumps, and two honours ; it therefore follows 
that there are at least seven trumps in the adver- 
saries' hands, if not eight, and as I have bv mv 
discard shown no desire that trumps should be led, 
you would be right to force me. If to your ace of 
hearts I had discarded the six, seven, or eight of 
spades, you would have reason to doubt the ex- 
pediency of forcing me ; for either of these cards 
might be the commencement of an ask, and you 
would be right to change the suit and wait for 
further information before you forced me. If, how- 
ever, you found that even my discard of the six 
was not an ask, you should not hesitate to give me 
the option of ruffing. I can refuse to ruff if I 
choose, and at a very trifling expense — viz., dis- 
carding a worthless card — but to refuse to give 



1 1 8 The Art of Practical Whist. 

me a chance of making a small trump, merely 
because you are yourself weak in trumps, is, I am 
convinced, most feeble play, based on a miscon- 
ception as regards the purpose and play of a hand. 
To do so implies that your partner is strong enough 
to extract trumps, and to make his or your long 
suit, when there is not the slightest evidence that 
should induce you to come to such a conclusion. 



LETTER XL 

ASKING FOR TRUMPS, AXD THE ECHO. 



J 



Durixg many years there lias been a system 
arranged,termed " asking for trumps," " the signal," 
and ;; tlie blue Peter," which indicates that you are 
strong in trumps, and that you hold either five 
trumps, or four trumps and two honours, and that 
it is most advantageous to your hand, that vour 
partner lead you trumps at the first opportunity. 
This "ask" is indicated by your playing an un- 
necessarily high card, that is, on a trick won by 
ace, third in hand, you as fourth player throw the 
six, and next round play the two, or as second 
player, play the four, and then next round, drop 
the two or three. Thus asking for trumps means 
playing a totally unnecessarily high card, when by 
subsequent play you show you could have played 
a lower card. You must be careful to distinguish 
between a totally unnecessarily high card, and a 
card played to cover another card, or to protect 
your partner. If you hold knave, ten and two of 
a suit, as second player, you play your ten, on next 



120 The Art of Practical Whist. 

round you would play your two, if this trick was 
won by a card higher than your knave. Your 
partner must not assume from the fall of the two, 
that you have asked for trumps, you have simply 
played the proper card. If you wished to ask for 
trumps, with this hand you should play your knave 
on the first card led. But your partner cannot tell 
until the third round of the suit, whether you 
have, or have not asked for trumps under the 
above conditions. Thus the play of the second 
hand, must be watched carefullv to note whether 
the card played, is, or is not, a protecting card, and 
not an " ask." With fourth player, there is less 
chance of mistake, for if the trick be already won, 
and he throws a five or any other higher card, and 
next round plays the two or three, it must be an 
ask. If the card led by the original leader be a 
high card, such as king or ace, then the play of 
second player is not liable to be misunderstood. 
No player can ask for trumps by his lead. 

Third player may win with king, when he holds 
queen, or with ace, when he holds king, and so 
indicate his signal. 

It may often happen that a player with a strong 
hand of trumps wishes them to be led to him for 
two reasons. First, that by the card his partner 
leads him he may ascertain, or estimate his 



The Ask for Trumps. 121 



partner's strength ; second, because the card turned 
to his right may enable him to safely finesse. 
Tims with ace, queen, knave, and one other trump 
and king turned up to the right, it is advantageous 
that trumps should be led to this hand through 
the king, whereas if this hand led trumps, the king 
must make, unless ace be led and the king is un- 
guarded. Thus if one partner ask for trumps, the 
other partner should lead him the highest, if he hold 
three, and the lowest if he hold four trumps, unless 
this partner hold the ace, when he should lead 
ace, then lowest of the three remaining. 

Those players who note carefully the fall of 
every card will scarcely ever fail to see the call, 
whether made by their partner or adversaries. 
Bad players sometimes excuse themselves, when 
thev have omitted to notice the fall of the cards, 
by saying they were not looking out for it. Such 
a remark is a confession to the effect that the fall 
of the cards is not noticed, except probably the 
fall of aces, kings, and queens. 

To attempt to play whist when you omit to 
notice the call for trumps is to play at an immense 
disadvantage. Nearly every moderate player now 
understands the call for trumps, so that if one 
player out of the four does not do so, he is over- 
matched by those who do. 



122 The Art of Practical Whist. 

There are certain conditions of a game when 
one player, judging from the cards in his hand, 
may see after a few rounds that the only way of 
saving the game is to obtain a trump lead from 
his partner. Under such circumstances he would 
be justified in asking for trumps, although he may 
not possess the strength indicated as that justify- 
ing an original call. You should therefore note 
the cards carefully that are played throughout the 
hand, for your partner may not have called early 
in the game, but may do so after half the cards 
have been played. 

There are some players who not being very 
strong in trumps will never lead them unless their 
partner has asked ; such players are of course ob- 
tuse, and do not know the principles of the game. 
There are some cases where nothing but a trump 
lead can save the game, and should, therefore, be 
adopted, even though the leader is very weak and 
his partner has not asked. 

It is rarely wrong to ask for trumps if you hold 
five with two honours ; but there are exceptions 
to this, some of which are the following : — 

That you hold ace, queen, and three others, and 
the king is turned up to your left, and you have 
no winning cards out of trumps. 

That you are at the score of four, hold ace, 



The Echo, 123 



king, and three small tramps, single cards in two 
suits, and no winning cards in the third. 

That vour partner has shown he is likely to 
ruff a suit, in which von cannot win a trick. 
Under the above condition von may force your 
partner and then lead trumps, if yon consider it 
desirable. 

"When you see that bv the fall of the cards you 

%) ii tj 

and your partner have a double ruff. 

These and other similar conditions would render 
it doubtful whether an ask for trumps at the 
commencement of the game was desirable. If, 
however, during the play of the hand you discover 
your partner is strong in any suit, you may at 
once signal. 

If possible, never ask for trumps with a ten, 
knave, or queen ; your partner may consider you 
hold no more in the suit, and will perhaps try to 
force you. 

The Echo. 

As a sequel to the " ask for trumps " another 
system of play has been for some time adopted, 
by which, if your partner ask for trumps, you 
can inform him whether you hold four, or more or 
less than four trumps ; that is, either to " ask " in 
trumps when they are led, or ask in some other 



124 The Art of Practical Whist. 



suit after your partner lias asked. This echo is 
a most powerful aid, as it is almost certain to 
enable you to win an extra trick. The following 
may serve as an example. 

Your partner holds ace, king, queen, and ten of 
trumps; you hold nine, five, three, and two. 
Your partner has asked for trumps, and im- 
mediately after leads the queen. On this you 
play your three. He then leads king ; on this 
you play your two. He then knows you hold 
four trumps. He then leads ace, on which you 
play your five, and knave falls from one adversary. 
Your partner now holds best trump, and could 
draw the remaining trump if it were in the ad- 
versary's hand ; but you by the echo have told 
him it is in your hand, so he will not draw it, 
and you probably make it by ruffing a losing card. 
Had you not echoed, your partner would draw 
this trump, as he would conclude it was held by 
the adversaries. 

Those players who do not play the echo must 
play at a disadvantage against those who do play it. 

It may sometimes occur that when in the first 
lead you have decided to ask for trumps, the fall of 
the cards shows that a trump lead is not desirable. 
For example : king of hearts is led by your right- 
hand adversary. You hold five trumps witli ace ; 



How to " Ask." 125 

knave, and four small hearts, and no winning 
cards ; you, however, commence an ask in trumps. 
To the king of hearts your partner plays the 
knave ; original leader follows with ace. You now 
know that your partner can hold only queen of 
hearts, and may hold no more ; so the whole heart 
suit is against you, and your partner's trumps can 
be well employed in winning tricks on hearts ; 
also the adversaries will probably lead trumps up 
to or through you. Instead, therefore, of com- 
pleting your ask, you throw a higher card than the 
one you played originally, and thus conceal your 
original intention. 

To be able to do so, you must never ask with 
too high a card — that is, if you hold nine, seven, 
three, and two, commence the ask with the three, 
not with the seven or nine. To ask with the nine 
or seven when you hold the three or two is an insult 
to your partner's intelligence ; it really means that 
you consider your partner's powers of observation 
so feeble that he might omit to notice the play of 
the three and two, so you play a very high card to 
attract his attention. Such play might prevent 
you from concealing your commenced ask, if you 
found reason to change your form of game. 

In connection with the " ask for trumps " and 
the "echo" the question arises as to when it may 



126 The Art of Practical Whist. 



be desirable to conceal your strength, instead of 
declaring it. It may happen that, although it 
may suit you to have trumps led, you would pre- 
fer that the adversaries led them, rather than 
that the lead came from your partner. At the 
risk, then, of misleading your partner as to your 
strength it may be advisable sometimes to lead a 
single card when you hold six or more trumps. 
"When you ruff this suit in the second round, the 
adversaries, mistaking your strength for weakness, 
may probably play your game by leading trumps ; 
whereas, had you asked for trumps, you would 
probably never have obtained a trump lead from 
your adversaries. 

TThen the adversaries lead trumps, it is also 
advisable that you conceal from them the fact of 
your holding four trumps, and so, as the term 
implies, it is an echo to your partner's call or lead 
only. 

Many very good players are of opinion that the 
conventional ask for trumps has to a great extent 
interfered with the high art of whist. They argue 
that formerly, when the ask was not adopted, a 
fine player would almost instinctively know when a 
trump was desirable, and would act accordingly. 
Now, say these objectors, the matter is made so 
plain by the ask that any common observer sees 



The Echo. 127 

it. There may be some reasons for these objections ; 
but whether or not the objections are sound, yet the 
system is played, and unless you also adopt it you 
will play to disadvantage with those who practise 
it. It may be urged, however, that some players 
do very often omit to notice the call, and so a 
certain amount of observation is necessary in order 1 
never to omit noticing* the call, when either your 
partner or adversaries give it. 

If you hold five trumps, you may echo with the 
lowest but two, if this card be a low one, and then 
play your lowest to next round ; your partner, 
missing the intermediate card, places five in your 
hand. (See The Lead.) 



LETTER XTI. 

FINESSING. 

I have already called vour attention to the 
finesse arbitrary, which means that under the 
conditions there named von must plav the lower 
card of the two highest. Another finesse, which 
might be termed the common-sense finesse, is 
when von have discovered that the highest card 
but one in a snit has been played third in hand 
bv vonr left-hand adversary and von hold the 
best and third best card in the snit. For example : 
a small heart is led bv vonr right-hand adversary- 
Yon hold ace, knave, and a small heart. As 
second player yon play your small heart ; third 
hand wins with king, and returns a small club,- 
which is won by your right-hand adversary, who 
again leads a heart. On this heart as second 
player yon play vonr knave, because the play of 
king third hand by your left adversary ought to 
indicate that he does not hold the queen, so your 
knave ought to win. The queen ought to be in 



Finesse Specitlative. 129 

the hand of your right adversary or in your 
partner's hand. In either case it is right to play 
your knave. It is possible that the left adversary 
has played a false card and may hold the queen, 
but vou must not assume that false cards are 
played as a first assumption ; you must play 
according to the usual play of a hand. 

Again. Suppose you hold ace, ten, and a small 
heart, this suit led by your right-hand adversary ; 
you play small heart second hand, third hand 
plays queen, and your partner wins with king. 
You on next round finesse the ten, for the same 
reasons that you would finesse the knave in the 
former example. Variations of this common- 
sense finesse will occur frequently during the 
play of a hand. 

The speculative finesse is one where the chances 
of success or failure are about equal. Suppose you 
hold king, knave, and two small trumps (spades), 
you lead your small spade ; partner wins with ace, 
and returns the six ; second player plays seven ; 
your king must now make. If the queen is to 
your left and guarded, the queen must make ; if, 
however, it is to your right and guarded, it will 
not make if you finesse your knave. It is there- 
fore advantageous to finesse your knave in trumps, 

unless the fall of the first card from the left 
9 



130 The Art of Practical Whist. 

adversary induces you to conclude that you may 
catch his queen, if he hold it, with your king. 
In plain suits this finesse is dangerous, especially 
with four originally in the suit, as you may lose 
your knave to the queen, and your king may be 
ruffed. If all the trumps are out, then the finesse 
is not dangerous. 

It is useless to finesse when the adversary to 
your right has shown weakness. For example : 
you hold ace, queen, and a small heart, and lead 
the small heart, which your partner wins with 
knave and returns. To play the queen would be 
wrong, as the hand to your left must hold king, 
or the king is in your partner's hand. Remember 
that the finesse means finessing against a card 
which may be in the hand of vour rip\ht adver- 
sary. If the card you are finessing against can- 
not be there, the finesse is useless and dangerous. 

The finesse should be only practised when the 
chances of its success are in your favour, or when 
a desperate game must be played. To finesse 
when only one trick is required to win or save 
the game is wrong. Make the winning or saving 
the game a certainty. To finesse when only two 
cards remain in, in each hand, and you know a 
trump is against you or is in your partner's hand, 
is also absurd ; vet I have seen endless tricks 



Danger of Finessing. 131 

lost by such play. For example : you hold the 
thirteenth trump and one diamond ; your partner 
holds ace, queen of diamonds. You lead him the 
diamond, and from habit he finesses the queen, 
which is taken by the king, and his ace falls to 
your trump. Such play is due to carelessness and 
a want of observation, yet is of extremely common 
occurrence. 

It is always well to consider what will be the 
results of the success or failure of a finesse. Sup- 
pose you have won the odd trick, and hold two 
by honours, and have a king, knave in your hand 
of a suit of which the ace has been played, the 
queen of this suit is against you. If to the right, 
and you finesse your knave, you win the game ; 
if to your left, you lose the knave, and may not 
make your king ; but the probable gain is worth 
the risk. Whether you are three or four does not 
much matter, but whether you are game or four 
is of considerable importance. If, however, you 
required only one trick to win or save the game, 
you should not finesse the knave. 

As a general rule you may finesse in trumps 
more than in plain suits ; also you may finesse in 
the adversaries' suit, but not in your partner's. 

There is one case where a finesse should be 
adopted, for the purpose of throwing the lead. 



132 The Art of Practical Whist. 

For example : you hold queen, six, five, four, and 
two of hearts ; you lead the four, second hand 
plays nine, partner plays king, and fourth player 
plays three. Partner returns eight of hearts, and 
second player plays a club. You may now fairly 
conclude that your partner holds no more hearts ; 
consequently the ace, knave, ten are on your left. 
If you play your queen third hand, ace wins it, 
and the knave, ten also win. If vou finesse and 
pass up the eight, fourth player wins with ten, 
but he dare not lead out his ace, as he leaves 
your queen the best card, and if this suit be 
trumps, you will probably make your queen, and 
must do so if the only cards in are the ace and 
knave to your left, and two other cards in each 
hand, for the lead must come from the left round 
to your queen guarded. 



LETTER XIII. 

FALSE CARDS.— THE DISCARD.— UNDERPLAY.— 

PLAY OF THE TWELFTH AXD 

THIRTEENTH CARD. 

The majority of book and orthodox players, 
have the greatest objection to play false cards. To 
play a false card, when no object can be gained by 
it, is detrimental to the art and success of the joint 
play of your own and your partner's hand. There 
are, however, numberless instances where you may 
play a false card which cannot injure your partner, 
and if it mislead him, it will be no harm, whilst it 
will mislead the adversaries, and may probably 
give you an advantage. Again, a false card played 
may not be a false card as regards your partner, 
and cannot mislead him, but it maybe a false card 
for the adversaries. As an example, I will suppose 
you hold ace, king, nine and two of trumps, and 
the knave is led by your left adversary ; partner 
does not cover with queen, third player plays small 
card, and you have to win with ace or king. You 
may now fairly assume that the queen is to your 
right, and the ten to your left. If you play the 



134 The Art of Practical Whist. 

king, one adversary, at least, knows the ace is in 
your hand. If you win with ace, it would indicate 
that you did not hold the king. On the original 
leader regaining his lead, he might probably lead 
ten of trumps ; third player, fancying the king was 
to his right, might play queen, hoping thus to 
obtain a third round of trumps. If he passed up 
the ten, you might either win with ace, or let the 
ten make, so as to hold ace, nine over queen. I 
do not give this as an example of good play, but 
merely to show how such a false card could not 
well be detrimental, and might be advantageous. 
To make an adversary change his suit, especially 
when he leads up to you, a false card is often well 
played. For example, you hold ace, queen of a 
suit, queen, knave, nine of another suit, say spades, 
your left adversary leads king of spades, second 
player plays two, third player seven, and you play 
nine. The same leader leads ace of spades, second 
player plays three, third player ten. You now 
know the player on your right holds no more 
spades, and will trump next round, and lead 
through your ace, queen suit. You would do well 
to play the queen instead of your knave to his ten, 
and thus let it appear as if the knave were in the 
right adversary's hand, whilst you held no more in 
the suit. Probably the leader, instead of con- 



The Discard, 135 



tinning the spade lead, might lead up to your ace, 
queen suit. The play of the false card, can do no 
harm. 

Playing false cards should be avoided until you 
become a skilled player, when your experience 
will show you when and where it may be done to 
advantage. The examples given above are simple 
cases, which are, perhaps, worth reflecting on, as 
a preface to future and more difficult cases. 

The Discard. 

When you possess no cards of the suit led, you 
either trump, or you discard some card of another 
suit. By this discard you should give your part- 
ner certain information : — 

1. If trumps have not been led by either side, 

you should if you do not trump, discard 
from the weakest suit in your hand, and 
consequently throw away your most 
worthless card. You must not forget, 
that in your discard you can ask for 
trumps, by discarding first a high, then 
a low card. 

2. If your partner has led trumps, you also, 

when you discard, throw from your 
weakest suit. 



136 The Art of Practical Whist. 

3. When your adversaries have led trumps, 
3^011 discard from your strongest suit, 
throwing of course the smallest card of 
this suit, 

These general rules must, of course, be tempered 
with reason, and you must not throw away from 
a suit such a card as may protect other cards in 
your hand. For example, with king, three and two 
in one suit, six, five, four and two in another, it 
would not be safe to discard from the king suit, as 
you might be led through this second suit when 
second player, when if ace, queen were to your 
left, you would lose your king. 

It is always dangerous to throw away a single 
card of one unled suit when you hold no trumps, 
as the first lead of this suit exposes your weakness, 
and allows your right-hand adversary to finesse 
against you to any amount when the suit is again 
led. It is also dangerous to throw away the only 
remaining card of a suit in which your partner has 
shown strength, as it prevents you from again 
giving him his suit when you recover the lead. 
At the end of a hand, it is essential to be most 
careful about the discard, so as not to retain a high 
card which cannot win, and throw a low card 
which may win. For example, you hold two 



The Discard. 137 



cards, tlie ace of hearts, and seven of diamonds. 
Right-hand adversary has trumped hearts, and has 
the lead, and leads the thirteenth trump. To 
retain the ace of hearts is, of course, useless, and if 
another diamond is in lower than the seven, you 
may win this. This case may appear too palpable 
to need mention, but in practice such an error is 
not unusually made by moderate players. 

The greatest watchfulness is required to enable 
you to throw away the highest card of a suit, in 
which your partner holds the remaining winning 
cards. For example, your partner led ace, then 
knave of clubs. On his knave you did not play 
vour kino;, and the knave wins. You then know 
that your partner led from ace, queen, knave and 
two others, so there is only one more club in the 
adversaries' hands. Your partner then leads ace, 
king and a small trump, three rounds of trumps, 
leaving one in your partner's hand, and one the 
highest in the adversaries'. In the third round 
of trumps you failed, and threw a small card, re- 
taining the king of clubs. The adversaries draw 
your partner's last trump, and lead a heart, which 
your partner wins with ace, and returns a club. 
This club you must take with your king, and you 
and your partner lose every other trick. Now had 
you discarded your king of clubs, your partner 



138 The Art of Practical Whist. 

would have made two additional tricks with his 
three clubs, — the fact of your not getting rid of 
your king costing you two tricks. 

When the adversaries have led trumps, you 
should discard as a rule from your strongest suit. 
But it may happen that such a discard may ruin 
your hand. When, then, you do not discard under 
these circumstances from your strongest suit, a 
second discard from the same suit should indicate 
that this suit is weak. This second discard might 
be termed the negative, as the first discard says 
" this is my strong suit," a second discard from 
the same suit negatives the first. 

Towards the end of a hand, and with a long- 
suit and one or two trumps in against you, it is 
useless to discard all your other suits, and retain 
this one suit, you cannot make all this suit, and the 
fact of your not being able to give your partner a 
lead by giving him another suit, may cost you one 
f or two tricks. Such a case I have often noticed, 
and the following is an example. You hold king, 
queen, knave and two of spades, the ace of which is 
out, and the seven of hearts ; two more trumps are 
in some hands, one probably in that of your partner, 
and this trump may be the best. Your partner 
holds a heart, probably the best. Left-hand adver- 
sary plays best club, partner and third player follow 



Underplay. 139 

suit, you must discard either a spade or your seven 
'of hearts. Suppose you discard a spade, adver- 
saries lead a spade, you win with knave and lead 
the heart, which your partner wins, draws the re- 
maining trump and leads you another spade. The 
cards being located as follows : Left adversary, 
one club, one heart, three spades. Partner, one 
club, one trump, two- spades, one heart. Right 
adversary, one trump, one spade, three clubs. If 
you had discarded Your heart, right-hand adver- 
sary must make his trump on your spade. 

Many other similar examples might be given of 
the bad results which follow throwing awav the 
whole of a suit, and retaining only one long suit 
in your hand, when there are trumps against you. 

Underplay. 

What is termed underplay, may often be suc- 
cessfully practised against even the best players, 
and consists in the following system of play. 

Suppose you hold ace, queen and a small card 
in hearts. Your left-hand adversary leads the two 
of hearts, your partner plays six, third player plays 
knave, and you win with queen. You now may 
fairly conclude that neither king, nor ten is in the 
hand of your right adversary. Your partner may 



140 The Art of Practical Whist. 



hold one or both of these, but he may hold the ten, 
and left adversary the king. If you play out your 
ace, the king must make next round. If, however, 
you play your small heart, left-hand adversary, 
believing the ace to be to his left, will probably 
not play his king second in hand. Then if part- 
ner hold the ten it makes, and your ace still is 
held over the king. This is termed underplay. 

There is danger in this style of play, for second 
player may suspect you of an attempt to underplay 
him, and may play his best card, and as you can 
only underplay when you are leading up to weak- 
ness, the third round may be ruffed by your right- 
hand adversary, and your ace may never make. 
You run a risk to make an additional trick, and 
you should carefully estimate whether the amount 
of risk is great or small compared to the probable 
gain. If you decide on underplaying in any suit, 
it is more prudent to wait before you do so, and 
not return at once this suit. The lead may come 
again from the original leader, and your partner, 
if a good player, would then play his ten, second 
in hand, and so obtain the same results as though 
you had underplayed, and with less risk. It is of 
course safer to underplay in trumps than in plain 
suits, as your trumps cannot be ruffed. 

When used with discretion, underplay often 



Play of Twelfth and Thirteenth Card. 141 

wins a trick, and if practised occasionally, a player 
may suspect you of underplay when you have not 
attempted it, and may run his best card and lose 
it, in consequence, as it is a very difficult question 
to decide whether or not an attempt is being 
made to underplay you. 

The Play or the Twelfth ajstd Thirteenth 

Card. 

It would not be giving too common a case, to 
state that every other hand at least you have the 
opportunity of playing a twelfth or thirteenth card; 
whether, or when, to do so, becomes the important 
question. I will first deal with the twelfth card. 

Suppose three rounds of a suit have taken place, 
in which suit vou originally held four. That in 
the third round your partner failed, and you know 
the other remaining card of this suit is to your 
right. The plav now may be divided into two 
cases, first, when the card in your hand is the 
better of the two, secondly, when it is the lower. 
If vou lead this card it will win a trick, when it is 
the better card, if the left adversary does not ruff 
it. If he ruff it, your partner may, if he can, ruff 
over him, and have no fear of being himself ruffed 
over, as fourth player holds a card of the suit. 



142 The Art of Practical Whist. 

Influenced by this fact, many players will at once 
lead the twelfth card, thereby imagining they gain 
a trick, but before doing so, another probability 
ought to be considered. The second player may be 
weak in trumps, or may hold, say ace, king and the 
two. To ruff with the two would be useless, to 
ruff with the ace or king too expensive ; he there- 
fore may discard some card which will enable him 
to safely ruff another suit, when this suit is led. 

As an example of the preceding, take the fol- 
lowing. You hold ace, queen and two small 
spades, and the best heart, the twelfth, the thir- 
teenth heart being in the hand of your right 
adversary. Your partner holds three spades, queen 
and one club (trumps). Left adversary holds two 
small spades, ace, king and two of clubs (trumps). 
Ivight adversary holds four spades, and thirteenth 
heart. Your partner leads a small spade, you 
finesse queen and win, you then lead twelfth 
heart, left adversary throws his spade, and you 
win this trick, making two. You then play ace 
of spades, which left adversary ruffs with tw r o of 
trumps and wins, and plays his ace, king of 
ti'umps, making three tricks to your two. 

Now take the correct and more safe play. After 
you have won with the queen of spades play out 
your ace, you make both tricks, then play your 



Twelfth and Thirteenth Card, 143 

twelfth heart. If second player trump with any- 
thing, your partner's queen must make a third 
trick, and you win three tricks to the adversaries 
two, with the same cards as those by which you 
only won two tricks. 

Before then you play a twelfth card, whether it 
be the best, or not the best, note whether vou 
hold any winning cards which you can make be- 
fore leading the twelfth card, and which a discard 
from the adversary might prevent your making, 
Numberless tricks are lost by neglecting this pre- 
caution, and some players never appear to notice 
how thev have lost a trick, as thev continue for 
years committing the same error. 

When the twelfth card which you have an 
opportunity of playing is the lower of the two 
remaining, or if the thirteenth card be located 
in the hand of your left adversary, all the pre- 
ceding arguments have extra force ; and the 
play of the twelfth card is dangerous, unless you 
want to give your partner the chance of making 
a trump, which chance might not otherwise 
occur. 

The play of a thirteenth card has all the 

^advantages which attend the play of a twelfth 
card, and does not possess many of the advantages. 
The play of a thirteenth card has three special 



144 The Art of Practical Whist. 

objects, any one of which may be the intention 
of the leader, as regards his partner. It may 
mean, that the leader wishes his partner to play 
on it his best trump. For instance, your partner 
has turned up ace of trumps, and you have reason 
to believe it to be his only remaining trump. 
You hold the king of trumps only. If the adver- 
saries obtain the lead thev bring; clown vour kino; 
and your partner's ace together, by a lead of 
trumps. If, however, you lead a thirteenth card, 
it follows, that if your partner put his ace on this, 
the ace and king make separately. Many vari- 
ations of this form will be evident to vou, such 
as you holding queen, kna«ve, only, and your part- 
ner the king, so that the most usual meaning of 
playing a thirteenth card, especially towards the 
end of the hand, is to ask your partner for his 
best trump on this thirteenth card. 

Another meaning of a thirteenth card may be 
to throw the lead into the adversaries' hands, and 
make one of these lead up to you or to your 
partner. It is for the non-leader's partner to 
judge which of these two meanings of the lead of 
a thirteenth card was intended, and he ought to 
judge from the cards in his own hand, and from 
those which he may reasonably suppose are in 
those of his partner or adversary. I have lost 



The Thirteenth Card. 145 

many games and rubbers by mistakes on the part 
of my partner as regards the meaning of a thir- 
teenth card, but never lost a worse rubber than 
by the following, which will serve as an example 
of the use of a thirteenth card. 

I held two small trumps, and a thirteenth card ; 
my partner had turned up the queen. I had 
reason to believe that strength in trumps was to 
my right. I and my partner must win two tricks 
to win the game and rubber ; if we did not win 
two tricks, Ave lost the rubber. If my partner 
held ace and king and queen of trumps, we were 
game ; if he held king, queen, ten, we were game, 
unless ace, knave were to his left, or ace to his 
right and knave to his left ; if he held ace, queen, 
we must win, if the lead were to come from his 
left whilst he held ace, queen. I led him, there- 
fore, the thirteenth card, which second player did 
not trump. My partner held ace, queen of trumps, 
and a low card of another suit. He now had 
game in his hands, had he thrown his low card ; 
but being a mere book player his only idea was 
that I wanted his best trump, so he ruffed with 
his ace, led his queen, which was taken by the 
king, and we lost the game, as the adversaries 
held the remaining best trump. Instead of ad- 
mitting his error, and saying he had omitted to 
10 



146 The Art of Practical Whist. 

notice the score, and also to see that he must 
make his ace, queen if he passed this thirteenth, 
he defended himself, as many such players often 
do, by stating that he concluded I must hold the 
king, and therefore wanted his best trump. 

It therefore requires some judgment to decide 
whether the play of the best trump is what is 
meant, and even if it be meant, it does not follow 
that another treatment of the case may not be 
better. 

The third intention of playing a thirteenth card 
is rarely justifiable ; it is sometimes played be- 
cause the leader considers he cannot play any 
other card to advantage. To play a thirteenth 
card under these circumstances may, and most 
probably will, mislead your partner ; and if he 
does not ruff very high, it gives an easily acquired 
trick to the last player. 

Hence the play of both twelfth and thirteenth 
cards requires considerable judgment ; injudicious* 
play of either may lose a trick ; whereas, if well 
played and at the proper time, they may be made 
of great use. 

At the end of a hand it is dangerous to play a 
thirteenth card, as it admits one of the adversaries 
to discard and often to prevent your making a 
second or third round in a suit, as, for example : 



The Thirteenth Card. 147 

you hold queen and one heart and a thirteenth 
diamond ; partner holds king and one heart and 
thirteenth spade ; each adversary holds two small 
hearts and one trump. If you lead your thirteenth 
diamond, you win but one trick ; lead your heart, 
and if your partner lead another heart instead of 
the thirteenth spade, you win two tricks. 



LETTER XIV. 

RULES AND REASON. 

In the preceding pages you have been given the 
rules for the lead, second play, &c, and the rules of 
play as regards many other portions of the game. 
These rules, especially as regards leads, apply to 
the first or original lead. After one round of the 
cards has been played, you necessarily know more 
about the game than you could know from seeing 
your own cards only. You can form some idea 
whether your partner is strong or weak in a suit, 
whether he is commencing an ask for trumps, 
whether he is likely to ruff, &c, &c. So that after 
one or two rounds and two tricks have been won, 
you must necessarily allow the results of the infor- 
mation you have gained to guide you in the play 
of your cards — that is, you must play by reason 
and not by rule. In former years men did not 
read much about whist ; they played a certain 
game, which by experience they fancied was a 
good one, but their own experience was their 



Reason not Rides. 149 

instructor. When such excellent books as those 
produced by J. C. and Cavendish were available, 
young whist-players read and studied these, and 
shortly were able from reading alone to play a bet- 
ter game than men could play who had ten years' 
personal experience, but who had never read. 

One result, however, of a large class of whist- 
players being thus trained by reading and not 
having an extended experience is, that one often 
now meets men who play a game of rule and not 
of reason ; they rigidly adhere to the rules laid 
down as general principles, and cannot perceive 
when to follow these rules must cause the loss of 
a game. They seem to forget that the object of 
whist is to win the greatest number of tricks 
possible to be won with certain cards, consequently 
thev will often lose a trick or even two, rather 
than play in a manner which they consider is not 
according to rule. Such players must lose in the 
long run, unless their adversaries are even less 
skilful. 

1 have already referred to one of these rules, 
and I trust you will have seen what is meant by 
the written rule. It does not mean never force 
your partner if weak in trumps yourself ; but it 
means if you see a good chance of making more 
tricks by not forcing your partner than you could 



150 The Art of Practical Whist. 



make by forcing him, then refrain from the force ; 
but you should always remember that it does not 
follow your partner must take a force, even though 
you offer it him. He may conclude, and erro- 
neously, that you are strong in trumps, but he 
would not conclude so unless he were considerably 
impressed with the importance of the advice, " do 
not force your partner if weak in trumps." Many 
players, influenced by this recommendation, will 
frequently throw away a game in consequence of 
their fertile imaginations. 

You may hold one honour and two trumps, 
and you find the chances of saving the game very 
remote unless you force your partner. He holds 
probably four small trumps. You force him and 
he makes a trick, and immediately jumps at the 
conclusion that you must be strong in trumps ; so, 
having ruffed, he leads you a trump and loses every 
other trick. Some players actually treat a force 
from their partner as equivalent to an ask for 
trumps ; as they assume that he would never force 
them unless very strong. 

Some players again, bearing in mind that it 
is sometimes advisable to force a strong hand of 
trumps, will continue leading a suit for an adver- 
sary to trump, even when he holds the only 
remaining trumps, probably three or four. At 



Erroneous Ideas. i ^ i 



the end of the hand they frequently congratulate 
their partner on the manner in which they 
'•worked out those trumps." 

Whatother use could they imagine these trim 
could be put to, than to win tricks by ruffing \ 
Thev ignore the value of the lead which they keep 
placing in the adversary's hand, and seem entirely 
to be engrossed by giving the adversary every 
opportunity of winning tricks. Such play is un- 
reasonable. 

k * When strong in trumps do not ruff a doubtful 
card 3 is another piece of advice which some 
players seem entirely to misunderstand. With 
four trumps and no honour, such a suit cannot be 
called strong. Yet many players will not only 
refuse to ruff a doubtful card, but will not trump 
a card the best of which is almost to a certainty 
indicated against them. Thev seem to consider 
that refusing to trump and thus informing their 
partner that they hold four trumps, is information 
worth a trick ; so they give the adversaries a trick 
in order to convev this information, an act which 
appears to indicate that they consider the main 
object of whist is not to win tricks, but to convey 
information. 

With four small trumps and no suit to bring in, 
and with no indication from your partner that he 



152 The Art of Practical Whist. 

wants trumps out, you cannot expect to make more 
than one of your trumps, and you may very likely 
not make that unless you ruff. Consequently 
reason must guide you as regards the expediency 
of ruffing with four trumps, and not rule. 

A game is very often lost by a partner who 
blindly plays by rule, and will immediately return 
your lead of trumps when he is excessively weak ; 
because many players, when it suits their hand, 
say, if I lead trumps I want them back. Although 
it should be no excuse for leading trumps because 
an honour is turned to your left, yet you may often 
be disposed so to lead to obtain other information. 
For example, I hold ace, queen, four and two of 
spades, trumps, king turned to my left. Ace, king 
and two other hearts, queen, knave, eight of 
diamonds, queen, and three of clubs — score love 
all. 

Now it is most essential that I know whether 
my partner holds knave of trumps ; if he does, I 
have a fair chance of winning the game, as we 
are two by honours. 

My partner leads a small diamond, which I win 
with knave, and lead a small trump. Partner 
wins with knave, and returns the two. I am 
now in doubt as regards my partner's strength in 
trumps. lie has returned the two up to the king. 



Blindly Following Rules. 153 

His two should most likely, therefore, be the lowest 
of three remaining. I win with ace, and I may 
now conclude that king alone remains in the left- 
hand player's hand and two more in my partner's. 
First, I will assume that I do so conclude and 
play my hand accordingly. I then consider it 
useless to draw my partner's trump and one of my 
own in order to extract the king, wdiich must win ; 
so I lead king, then ace of hearts — both go round. 
A third heart is won by fourth hand with queen, 
and I note that second hand asked for trumps in 
hearts, and that my partner failed in hearts. 
Right-hand adversary leads a trump, on which I 
play small trump, ten wins this to my left, king is 
led and takes my queen. I have now won the 
following tricks : queen of diamonds, partner, 
knave of spades, ace of trumps, ace, king of hearts 
— five tricks. Left adversary now leads king of 
clubs, then ace of clubs catching my queen. Then 
knave of clubs, then knave of hearts. The adver- 
saries have won : queen of hearts, king, ten of 
trumps, ace, king, and knave of spades. The ace 
of diamonds is held by my right-hand adversary, 
and wins. Thus the adversaries have won : two 
tricks in trumps, three in spades, two in hearts, and 
one in diamonds — eight, and have gained two by 
cards against two by honours. 



154 The Art of Practical Whist. 

If I had continued with a third round of trumps, 
and my left adversary had finessed his ten, the 
results would have been almost identical ; except, 
perhaps, if hearts had been led up to me, when I 
should have taken the queen. But the knave 
must have won ; probably my queen of diamonds 
also might have Avon. 

My partner's hand was as follows : knave and 
two of spades, king, nine, seven, six, and two of 
diamonds, nine, eight, six, and four of clubs, the 
seven and six of hearts. When I had won with 
my queen of diamonds, he might fairly be said not 
to have a winning card in his hand, as his king 
of diamonds must be won by the ace or ruffed. 

"With such a hand, I maintain he was not hound 
by rule to return my trump. By my lead, if I 
lead a trump, I play a forward game ; and if my 
partner returns me a trump up to the king, it 
plainly says I can support this game. But he 
held no single card to support me except his king 
of diamonds. Had my partner returned me a 
diamond I should have at once concluded that, in 
spite of two by honours, we could not win the 
game, so I must try for the odd trick only. 

The play that would naturally follow under 
these circumstances would almost certainly be as 
follows. Instead of returning my trump, my part- 



Returning Lead of Trumps. 155 

ner leads another diamond. Second player plays 
ace and wins ; and having a four suit of hearts, 
leads a small heart. I win with king, return ace, 
then small heart, which partner trumps, and leads 
king of diamonds, which right adversary trumps. 
His partner, under the preceding conditions, would 
not ask for trumps, so the spade would probably 
be led. On the third round I make a trump, and 
play a heart ; when the lead will most probably 
come up to me, and I make the ace, queen of 
trumps. By this play, my partner makes two 
trumps ; and I make at least two, and probably 
three. I make ace, king of hearts, and one 
diamond, and so secure the trick at least. And 
the game stands : three to love, instead of two all. 

Some players might urge that not to return the 
trump was selfish play, as it was playing one 
hand instead of two ; but the play was really the 
reverse of this. It told me that, although my 
hand might be good, yet my partner was so feeble 
that he dared not lead back trumps to the king 
against him. Xot to lead back trumps was rea- 
sonable under the conditions; to have returned 
trumps would have been playing blindly to rule. 

What are termed " Coups " are often cases 
where to follow rule ensures vour losing the game. 
You must reason on the special case before you, 



156 The Art of Practical Whist. 

and your reasoning and acting thereon must be 
instantaneous. It often may happen that von 
have to place yourself in imagination in the 
position of an adversary, and consider what play 
would be most likely to mislead you ; and then, 
when nothing but a false card can save or win 
you the game, this card must be played. I w r ill 
therefore now make a few remarks on — 

" Coups." 

There is a certain similarity in many games 
which at first sight appear to have no likeness 
to each other. In billiards there are some players 
who can make some one stroke very successfully, 
and they are always trying for this ; for example, 
screwing in off the spot is a favourite stroke with 
some players, and they pride themselves on it, 
whilst the}' play the actual game badly. So with 
some whist-players : they are always playing for 
some "coup," and when this succeeds they are 
delighted ; but, in playing for it, they will probably 
lose two or three tricks or a game, and too often 
it fails to come off. Thus the player who plays 
the game steadily and safely wins more than he 
who plays the game indifferentl} 7 but sometimes 
makes a good " coup." Hence, although there are 



" Coups, 157 

special cases where nothing but a special system 
of play can succeed, yet to be always on the 
look-out for these is not advisable, when such 
watchfulness causes you to sacrifice the play of 
the hand. 

It sometimes happens that you cannot possibly 
win or save the game, unless one particular card 
is in your partners hand. You must then play as 
if you are certain that it is there, and this requires 
of course reason, and no rule can bear upon so 
many varied cases. As an example, I give the 
following, which occurred to a brother officer, and 
which succeeded. 

He held ace, king, knave, and two of hearts — four 
cards only. His partner had by the lead shown 
that he held the two remaining clubs. Hearts 
had not been led or thrown, and spades (trumps) 
were all out. Consequently his partner held two 
hearts, two clubs. Saving the game meant in 
this case winning it, and to win it he must win 
everv trick. As there were thirteen hearts in, 
two only in his partner's hand, it followed that 
one adversary must hold four ; consequently the 
two of hearts must be taken, and the game must 
be lost if the lead could not be given to his 
partner. His left-hand adversary led a small 
heart, his partner played seven of hearts, third 



158 The Art of Practical Whist. 



hand played ten. If now he had won with knave, 
then led ace and king of hearts, he must lose the 
last trick, viz., his two of hearts. If his partner 
held queen of hearts, the queen must be left single 
in his partners hand ; so it was no matter whether 
he won with ace, king, or knave. If his partner 
held nine he must play it second round, as he 
held no other card ; so a false card could not 
injure his partner. He therefore won the ten 
with his ace and led the two of hearts. Second 
player held queen and two other hearts, but fancy- 
ing king must be to his left and not seeing his dan- 
ger he played a small heart, third hand won with 
nine of hearts, and made his two remaining clubs 
and won the game. If he had won with his 
knave, probably second hand might have sus- 
pected a false card when the two was returned ; 
but ace being played might indicate that the third 
player held king, knave, ten, and had finessed the 
ten. The " coup " is a good one to be worked 
out at a moment's notice. 

Another rather good " coup ' : was the fol- 
lowing, which also occurred. Ace, queen of 
diamonds, and three remaining trumps were in 
one hand — the holder of these cards I will term A. 
The king and nine other diamonds were in. It 
was A.'s lead, and he must win every trick to 



" Coups!' 159 

save and win the rubber. A. could win four tricks 
to a certainty, but the king of diamonds ought 
to win. The adversaries did not know all the 
trumps were in one hand, and it w r as A.'s lead. 
If he led his three trumps, then the ace of dia- 
monds, the king must make wherever it was. If 
the king were to his right and guarded, it must 
win. There was one chance, viz., that the king 
was to his left, and that, if the queen were led 
before the ace, second player not knowing where 
the ace was and wanting only one trick, might 
not cover. A. therefore led queen of diamonds, 
and second player did not cover. Consequently A. 
won his five tricks and rubber. The chances were 
certainly against such a result ; but, as A. argued : 
If his partner held the king, it was no matter ; if 
right-hand adversary held it, the game must be 
lost. So he took the only chance in his favour, 
and this chance came up favourably. 

Now reason alone could guide a player to such 
play as this — no rule is applicable. It is a case 
where you know the position of cards which the 
adversaries do not know, and you play on the 
chance that they may play certain cards under 
these peculiar circumstances. 

Both these are instances of a style of play that 
might be adopted at practical whist. If all the 



160 The Art of Practical Whist. 

cards are seen and their position known, sueli a 
result could not occur. Therefore it is not a 
problem to be worked out by mechanical rule, 
but they are cases requiring intelligence, and a 
quick calculation not only of where it is possible 
certain cards may be located, but what certain 
players may do under the peculiar circumstances. 

The advantages then to be derived at whist are 
fronr a judicious combination of rule and reason. 
Rule enables you to judge what cards your part- 
ner holds, and reason applies to the best method 
of using these. 

I once won a very neat game by the following 
amusing combination. I held four small trumps 
(spades), ace, king, and two small hearts, three 
small clubs, king, and one diamond. The king of 
spades was turned up to my left : my partner led 
knave of hearts, and queen covered it second hand. 
Knowing my partner to be a careful player, I at once 
concluded he had led me the highest of three cards, 
and as this was his original lead, he must hold a four 
suit which could only be trumps, and he did not like 
to lead up to king. I won the heart with my king, 
and led my small trump ; partner won with knave, 
and led me a small heart ; I won this with ace, and 
led him another trump ; my second lead of trumps 
showed him I held four. lie won this trick with 



The Lead from Ace Queen. 161 

the queen, led the ace and caught the king. I 
knew now that he held the other trump. He 
then led ten of hearts, after which I remained 
with the thirteenth, we had now won three tricks 
in trumps and three in hearts. He then led a 
small diamond, I played king third hand, and it 
was won by ace — fourth hand, who led queen, 
then knave. I ruffed the knave and led my 
thirteenth heart which won, and my partner's 
last trump won, making three by cards, two by 
honours. The cards held by myself and partner 
were, ace, queen, knave, and five other trumps ; 
ace, king, knave of hearts and ten ; king of dia- 
monds ; that is, seven court cards out of sixteen. 
The adversaries held four honours in spades, three 
honours in diamonds, and one honour in hearts 
and trumps. The point here to which I wish to 
draw attention is, that if your partner in his 
original lead shows you that he leads from a three 
suit only, you may fairly conclude that he holds 
four trumps, but considers it advisable not to lead 
them. Some players will persistently avoid lead- 
ing from an ace, queen suit. I do not consider 
that the advantages to be gained by waiting to 
finesse your ace queen compensate for the incor- 
rect information you give your partner as to the 

numerical strength in your hand. 
11 



1 62 The Art of Practical Whist. 

Rule applies strongly to original leads, and the 
play of the first half of a hand, after this reason 
comes in, and the nearer the end of the hand the 
more does rule become useless and reason takes 
its place. Hence there are very many players 
who are good for the first half of the hand, but 
are feeble in the extreme towards the end. 

As a coup for your amusement, I give the fol- 
lowing. — Give the adversaries four by honours in 
every suit ; give yourself and partner any of the 
other cards you choose, and win five by cards 
against them, you to have the lead. It is of 
course a double dummy game. 

Finally, I suggest that you should never consider 
it impossible that a game can be lost unless you 
hold ace, king, queen of trumps, and the adver- 
saries are at love, so save the game when you can. 
I once lost five by cards when I held ace, king, 
and four small trumps, king and one diamond, 
king and one spade, and three small clubs ; it was 
my lead and I led a small trump. Arrange the 
cards in the various hands so as to see how this 
happened, and could not be prevented after I had 
led. My partner held one trump only. 



LETTER XY. 

YOUR PARTNER. 

Whist is a game of partnership. You and your 
partner play against two other partners. It is twen- 
ty-six cards against twenty-six when the partners 
play to mutually assist one another. It is thirteen 
cards against twenty-six when each partner plays 
for his own hand. To play a strong game it is 
essential that you assist your partner and your 
partner aids you. To play against three adver- 
saries, one of whom is your partner, is not an 
uncommon event, and although it has been stated 
that the advantage which a good player has over a 
bad player is only about five per cent., yet this five 
per cent, occurs in every hand, and if there are 
seven deals to a rubber, the advantage is multi- 
plied to thirty-five per cent. It follows, therefore, 
that you must do your best to help your partner 
and he should do his best to aid you. In order 
that you make the most out of your partner you 
must form an accurate estimate of his whist 



164 The Art of Practical Whist. 

capacity. When you are afflicted with a partner 
, unacquainted with the rules and incompetent as a 
reasoner, yon must not play a high-class game, you 
must make matters as simple to him as possible, 
you must expect him to thwart all your great and 
promising schemes, and usually to play the adver- 
saries' game instead of yours. To attempt any thing 
great with him is simple ruin ; it would be like a 
line rider mounted on an awkward hack, riding to 
hounds as if he were on a trained hunter ; at the 
first timber leap you come a cropper. So you 
must not attempt a game beyond your partner's 
course. You must deny yourself many promising 
results which would certainly be obtained had you 
a good player opposite to you, and must play a 
cramped game, and consider yourself fortunate if 
you lose onlv one trick each hand. 

It is useless to attempt to teach a bad player 
how to play whist by lectures given during the 
deals ; to remind him of his glaring errors only 
fuddles his brain the more, for if he is so dense 
that he cannot perceive his mistakes and has 
played whist many years, it is expecting too much 
to hope that a five minutes' lecture will cure him 
of his faults. Besides, looking at it from a selfish 
point of view, a bad player, by the rule of chances, 
onolit to be twice your adversary for once he is 



Your Partner. 165 



your partner, and although he may lose you 
several tricks when he is your partner, he will also 
give you twice as many tricks when he is twice your 
adversary ; it is most essential, therefore, that you 
discover as quickly as possible the capacity of your 
partner, so as not to attempt a game beyond his 
powers ; if you venture any advice to him let it be 
to advise him to win every trick he can. And 
probably the sooner he gets all his winning cards 
out of his hand the sooner will his power to damage 
you be gone. 

With such a player it is useless to lead him a 
strengthening card. If he hold the ace and ten 
and another of a suit, and you lead him the queen 
or knave, he will put his ace on, as he will tell you 
had he not done so the king might make — that the 
king must make second lead he seems to ignore. 
If von return him the correct card when you hold 
two or three you merelv inform the adversaries 
and fail to obtain any results from your partner. 
False cards do not mislead him, for he fails to 
notice them, consequently you play with such a 
partner in much the same manner as you would 
with a dummy, you make your own hand as un- 
intelligible to the adversaries as it is to your 
partner, and you muddle on as best you can. 
That a partner should lose you five tricks in one 



1 66 The Art of Practical Whist. 

hand seems difficult, yet not long since I was 
favoured with a partner who succeeded in accom- 
plishing this feat as follows : I held six hearts head- 
ed by ace, king, queen, ace, and three small spades 
(trumps), two small clubs, one small diamond. 

It was my lead, and I led king of hearts in 
order that my partner should not labour under any 
misunderstanding as regards my suit. Fourth 
hand played knave of hearts to my king ; I then 
led a small trump ; partner Avon with queen and 
returned me a small trump. I won with ace and 
led a third round of trumps — second hand failed 
and partner won with king ; I now concluded I 
should win the game as my partner by returning 
the small trump told me he held four originally. 
My partner having won with king of trumps led 
knave of diamonds, which second player won with 
queen, and he then led the twelfth trump which 
was the best and drew mine, and made live tricks 
in diamonds ; my partner held two more hearts, 
and had originally only three trumps. Had he 
returned me the king then a small trump I should 
have held the lead after the third round of trumps, 
and could have forced the remaining trump held 
by the adversaries, with my hearts. So I must 
have made four more tricks in hearts and my last 
trump, If again he had led me a heart, similar 



y 



Estimating Your Partner. 167 



success would have followed. I thus lost five 
tricks by two errors of the most puerile description. 
My partner of course had a reason for his play ; 
he did not like to lead a heart, as he thought it 
would be trumped ! My partner had played Ca?*ds 
for certainly thirty years. When you consider 
that the return of an incorrect card, and the lead 
afterwards of an unwarrantable card, may cost 
you five tricks, you will perceive the amount of 
damage that a bad partner may entail on you. 

To ascertain quickly the capacity of your partner 
is most important ; you may often discover this by 
looking over his hand before you join the rubber 
and noting how he selects cards for particular 
purposes. A partner who is careful to return the 
lowest of three and the highest of two remaining 
cards, who notes the call for trumps, and will echo 
to your lead, can be made something of. When, 
however, you find a partner is studying the faces 
of the cards in his hand, and does not look at 
the table whilst the cards are being played, and 
consequently is always asking to look at the last 
trick, you may be sure that sooner or later he will 
get you into trouble, and you must not expect 
much from him, and dare not consequently attempt 
a very refined game. Many old whist-players get 
into a system of playing which is often eccentric 



1 68 The Art of Practical Whist. 

and unsound, but on which these individuals pride 
themselves. I once knew a player who always, 
whenever it was his lead, led trumps no matter 
what his hand might be, and he was convinced 
it was the right thing to do. He was constantly 
a .loser at the end of the year, but this result he 
attributed to his bad luck. 

When you know your partner to possess these 
eccentric idiosyncrasies, you must of course play a 
different game from that you would attempt with a 
reasonable partner. Xext to discovering the 
capacity of your partner is the importance of dis- 
covering the powers of your adversaries. Having 
formed an estimate of these, you may trade on 
this estimate, and often with favourable results. 
If you find your adversary is a mere book player 
you can fairly calculate what card he will play 
under certain circumstances, and can lead or 
finesse accordingly. I once won a game which will 
serve as an example of such play, which is, how- 
ever, applicable only under such exceptional condi- 
tions. I held king, queen, knave, and two of spades 
(trumps), ace, king, and three hearts, two clubs 
(small), and two diamonds (small). My partner led a 
small heart, ten fell second hand. Knowing my part- 
ner to play by rule, -I estimated that he held four 
hearts, and that a ruff would be made by second hand 



An Amusing Game. 169 

on another round. The ace of spades was turned up 
to my left ; I decided to lead trumps,but the question 
was which card to lead. I wanted two rounds of 
trumps. Knowing how carefully my left adversary 
followed rule, I was aware that if I led the king or 
knave he would hi the orthodox manner cover with 
ace. I therefore led the queen, hoping that he 
would follow the rule and pass it ; he did so, and 
the queen of course won. Having found this. I 
led the small trump as I now believed he would 
credit my partner with king. This also came off, 
as he played his ace on the small trump, and my 
partner dropped ten. He now believed my 
original lead was from queen, knave, and another, 
and that the king only was on his left, as he held 
two more trumps and a long and strong; suit in 
diamonds, he believed another round of trumps 
would bring down king and knave together, and 
leave him with the thirteenth trump. He there- 
fore led a third round and found that my partner 
held no more, his partner held another, and I won 
the trick with knave, and drew his other trump 
with king. A small heart from me was won by 
my partner with queen ; he returned another heart, 
and we won five tricks in hearts, three in trumps, 
and one in clubs, and won game. Had I led king 
of trumps my left adversary would have taken this 



170 The Art of Practical Whist. 



with ace, would have shown his partner his strong 
suit in diamonds, would then have forced his partner 
with a heart, regained the lead in his diamonds, 
forced his partner again in hearts, and would thus 
have won five if not six tricks, as he could have 
forced me with his diamonds. This was a game 
played entirely against rule as regards lead, "but it 
was specially adapted to the style of play which I 
knew the left adversary was likely to adopt. 

You may probably remark that this example of 
play is in direct opposition to the rules which I 
have already advised to be carried out. It is. not 
so opposed. The rules given are those that under 
ordinary circumstances should be adopted, and 
which have been found the best, to enable you to 
win the greatest number of tricks, for you must 
not lose sight of the fact that the golden rule for 
whist is to win the greatest number of tricks that 
are possible to be won with the cards held by your- 
self and your partner. If by using your intelli- 
gence you perceive that if you follow these rules 
you will lose, then another and a higher rule comes 
in, viz. to play so as to win. It is this which gives 
the great charm to whist as a study, no amount of 
knowledge of rule or system can enable you to do 
away with thought, and the reasoning required for 
ever recurring cases. So that you must be ever 



Enquiry. 171 

mentally on the alert to watch for these, and take 
the advantage which offers with strategic skill. 
The study then of the capacity and peculiarities of 
your partner and adversaries ought to be as much 
a part of the art of whist as is the study of the 
cards in your hands ; the latter are the weapons 
with which you fight ; the former are the .enemy 
and the ally against or with whom you do battle. 



ENQUIRY. 

The rules you have given for the lead, finesse, 
throwing the lead, &e., take a long time to learn, 
but a longer to put in practice during what I 
may call the excitement of play ; what then amidst 
all these rules, laws, advice, &c, would you recom- 
mend as the most important items to be impressed 
on the mind of a beginner ? I f ancv that there are 
certain parts of the game, such as throwing the 
lead, which can only be practised after long expe- 
rience at whist. Still it is advisable to do as little 
damage to your partner as possible, when you are 
only a moderate player — and I want to know how 
I am to advance from a bad to a moderate player 'i 



LETTER, XYI. 

WHAT TO LEARN. 

I consider it most necessary that yon should 
learn " the lead ; " unless yon do so yon commence 
under a great difficulty. The correct lead ought 
to be learned in one or two hours. Deal yourself 
thirteen cards and elect one suit as trumps, then 
think what card to lead and examine the rules to 
see if you are right. As second player remember 
to split knave, ten, and small card — queen, knave, 
and small card, king, queen, and small card, that 
is, play the lower of the two high cards. "When 
you win a trick the first round of a suit, return the 
higher of two remaining, the lowest of three re- 
maining. If your partner lead a suit which you 
win third in hand, lead him the correct card of 
your strongest suit at once. Return at once your 
partner's lead in trumps unless under most peculiar 
circumstances, such as those given in a former 
letter (No. XIV.). Watch the fall of the cards, so 
that you do not miss your partner's ask. Echo, if 



Simple Rules. 173 



you hold four trumps, to your partner's lead or 
call. Hold up your cards so as not to expose your 
hand. Never touch a card till you have decided 
which card to play. 

Follow these directions and you have the f ounda- 
tion of whist-playing. Make yourself so thoroughly 
acquainted with these rules that you never need 
occupy your mind with them, and you will then 
keep your head clear for the more complicated 
parts of the game. If you have to keep your 
attention occupied as to what to lead, or play 
second hand, &c, it is impossible to help gettin 
muddled about other portions of the game. 



8 



LETTEE XVII. 

THE PLAY OF A GAME OF WHIST. 

You will find in the latter part of Cavendish, in 
the Field occasionally, and in the Westminster 
Papers what are termed u illustrated hands," that 
is, the whole fifty-two cards arranged in the four 
hands, and the play given by which a certain 
number of tricks were won, on one side or the 
other. To arrange the cards as given, and to 
work out the hands, is an excellent method to 
discover and to impress on the memory, what may 
be done with the cards. You must, however, 
bear in mind that this is theoretical and not 
practical whist. That when the cards are all 
exposed, the problem is all clear. In practical 
whist, however, there comes in the element of 
individuality, the personal error, as we may term 
it, of each player — the probability of an adversary 
making a mistake, of his not making a finesse 
which might come off, and of his making one 
which does not come off, of his beino? misled bv a 



Problems at Whist. 175 

false card, of his inability to discover the cards in 
his partner's hand when he commences the game 
and leads. From these and similar causes a multi- 
tude of games are just missed being won at whist, 
which would certainly be won were all the cards 
exposed to view. Also many' games are lost at 
whist which would not be lost if you saw all the 
cards and had been playing double dummy. It 
consequently follows that practical whist is a very 
different game from what we may term theoreti- 
cal whist. As an amusing example of this I 
recommend you to arrange the cards in the man- 
ner given below. It is a case which once occurred 
to me at double dummy. You will then perceive 
that if any player had played at whist as it is 
necessary to play in the following case, he w r ould 
probably have been accused of trying to lose the 
game. I call my own hand A., my dummy's 
hand D. Left adversary's hand X. Right ad- 
versary's hand Y. Hearts trumps. 

A.'s. — 10, 6, 4 hearts. Ace spades. Ace, king, 

queen clubs, 10, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 diamonds. 
X.'s. — Ace, king, queen, knave hearts. King, 

10, 7, 4 spades. 10, 7, 4 clubs. King, 

2 of diamonds. 
D.'s. — 5, 3, 2 hearts. 9, 8, 5, 3, 2 spades. 

Ace, queen, knave, 9, 8 diamonds. 



176 The Art of Practical Whist. 



Y.'s. — 9, 8, 7 hearts. Queen, knave, 6 spades. 

Knave, 9, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2 clubs. 
It was A.'s lead, the score was A. D. 4, X. 

Y. love. 

You will perceive that X. Y. were four by 
honours, so the odd trick won the game. 

At a first glance it appeared that A. D. could 
win only four tricks, viz., three in clubs, one in 
spades. A little closer examination, however, 
showed that A. could win the odd trick. Xow you 
arrange the cards. Take only half a minute to 
consider, and then with A. and D.'s cards win the 
trick. You will then perceive that this hand must 
be played in a very different way from that in 
which it would be played at practical whist. It 
requires but little thought to see how the odd trick 
must be won by A. and D. But it is not too much 
to say that no amount of thought or experience 
could enable A. and D. to win the odd trick had 
they been playing whist against X. and Y. as 
partners, and consequently unacquainted with the 
position of the cards in the various hands. Con- 
sequently I do not place very much value on the 
capacity which enables a man to work out double 
dummy problems without fail, when I consider the 
application of this capacity for whist. The two 



False Cards. lyy 



cases are entirely different, and bring into play 
entirely different mental powers. A problem at 
dummy requires quiet calculation, whist-playing 
requires a quick calculation of probabilities from 
the evidence before you, and an acute perception 
as to whether this evidence is genuine or false. If 
an adversary has played a false card, the evidence 
on which you have to estimate probabilities is 
false, so you must also judge whether or not the 
adversary has played you a false card. A mere 
plodding mathematical intellect will solve a prob- 
lem of double dummy. It requires something more 
subtle in the mind to enable a man to play whist. 
False cards, which are so much condemned bv 
the orthodox player, cannot be played at double 
dummy, as no deception can take place. At whist, 
however, they may, and often do produce singular 
results ; and although I must caution you never to 
play a false card until you have advanced beyond 
the condition of a moderate player, yet when you 
become more skilled a false card often wins or 
saves the game when nothing else could do so. 
Some time ago I won a game by false cards being 
played, which is an amusing instance. I required 
three tricks to save and win the game. Diamonds 
were trumps. I hoped to obtain a ruff from my 

partner in clubs, and I held queen, knave, and 
12 



178 The Art of Practical Whist. 

nine of diamonds. Ace turned to my right. 
Towards the end of the hand, right hand adversary 
led king of trumps. On this I played my queen. 
He then led a spade, which left adversary won, 
and then returned a trump. Right hand adver- 
sary finessed ten ; and I won with knave and led 
a club ; to my surprise my partner won this, and 
led the eight of trumps. Eight hand adversary 
held ace and four of trumps, and he now con- 
cluded that my partner held seven of trumps be- 
hind the eight, that his partner held the nine, and 
that I held no more. If he put his ace on the 
eight, his partner's nine would fall, and the seven 
would remain the best trump in, so he played his 
four. My nine won, and we won the game. At 
double dummy we must have lost. 

At the commencement of a hand you may per- 
ceive that if your partner is moderately strong, you 
can ensure game, or at least a large score. Suppose 
you hold king, ten, five, two of diamonds, trumps ; 
ace, queen, four of spades ; king, eight, two of 
clubs ; queen, knave, eight of hearts. Score love 
all. This is a good hand. Two honours in your 
partner's hand, would give you a fair chance of 
game. You lead the two of diamonds, second hand 
plays ten, partner plays eight, fourth player three. 
From the fall of these cards you perceive that two 



The Play of a Hand. 179 

by honours are against yon, you therefore cannot 
win the game. The object, therefore, should be to 
try and save it. Taking a possibly unfavourable 
view of your hand, you find only one tolerably 
certain trick in it, viz., ace of spades. Your 
partner may hold the nine of trumps, but it is two 
to one against his doing so. If he does not hold 
it, there are in the adversaries' hands six more 
trumps, which may be divided between them three 
and three or four and two. 

Suppose left adversary, after winning with ten of 
trumps, leads a small heart, third player plays ten, 
and you win with knave. If you play another 
trump you almost to a certainty throw the lead 
into the hands of your left adversary, which may 
be good play as you are again led up to, and this 
suits your hand. But it would be very doubtful 
whether another trump should be led merely for 
the purpose of getting out the adversary's trumps, 
as you would then leave your king singly guarded, 
and your object now should be to make king of 
trumps, ace, queen of spades, and king of clubs, by 
which means you save the game out of your own- 
hand if your partner win only one trick. If your 
partner can win two tricks so much the better. 
But your main object in the game now should be 
to throw the lead into the hand of your left adver- 



180 The Art of Practical Whist. 

sary, and not to consider the object to be to draw 
trumps. The difference between the two systems 
of play you will perceive is distinct. You change 
your game from the attack to the defence. Dis- 
arming your antagonists when at the same time you 
disarm yourself is not always sound play. If, for 
example, you hold a small trump, and each adver- 
sary holds a better trump, it is very tempting to 
lead this trump and bring down the adversaries' 
two together. But if the only chance you have of 
making another trick is to ruff with your losing 
trump, it would be a mistake to lead it, even 
though it took out the adversaries' trumps. Many 
a game is saved in this way, and many players fail 
to notice how it is saved. Suppose you require one 
trick to save a game, and you see your only chance 
is to make a ruff. You succeed in this, and vour 
adversaries make their trumps separately on tricks 
which neither you nor your partner could win. 
The adversaries will often congratulate themselves 
on this result, and will imagine that they could not 
do better than make their trumps separately. 

Although it is rarely advisable to commence a 
game by leading a single card and thus playing for 
a ruff, yet there is no rule without an exception, 
and in desperate cases it might be tried. When 
however, you come accidentally as it were on a ruff 



Giving Your Partner the Lead. 181 

and succeed with a weak hand of trumps in mak- 
ing a trump, the great object is to give your part- 
ner the lead in order to obtain from him another 
ruff. To do so requires some consideration as re- 
gards the previous leads, but you will understand 
what I mean by the following example. 

Suppose you led a small club, your partner third 
in hand wins with ace and returns you a spade, 
which you ruff. To attempt to give your partner 
the lead by leading him another club is useless, for 
as he won with ace, he cannot hold either king or 
queen, so another club must give the adversaries 
a lead, and your trumps will be immediately 
drawn. You must try the suit that you have not 
led. Say for example diamonds are trumps ; your 
partner won with ace of clubs, so you must try him 
again with a heart. He may obtain the lead in 
the heart, he cannot obtain it in the club. TThen 
weak in trumps and weak in playing cards, the 
only possible chance of a score is a double ruff, and 
this you may often obtain when you find an origi- 
nal lead from an adversary of a suit in which you 
hold five, and your partner shows strength in 
another suit in which you hold only one or two. 
Giving your partner the chance of a discard is 
often a means of obtaining a double ruff. For 
example, right adversary leads king of clubs, you 



1 82 The Art of Practical Whist. 



hold four clubs, with the ten, your partner plays 
eight of clubs, and king wins. Right adversary 
now leads a small spade in which suit you hold ace 
king, queen and one other. You may now fairly 
conclude that original leader led from ace king, 
knave of clubs, and is waiting for the finesse, your 
partner is either asking for trumps, or holds only 
the queen, nine of clubs, or no more. You play 
your queen of spades and partners two falls, lead 
ace of spades and partners ten falls. You then 
lead king of spades, and partner throws nine of 
clubs. You then lead him a club and he ruffs, 
having got rid of his remaining club. 

When you or your partner has obtained a 
ruff in a suit and the game is in danger, you 
should alter the play of ace king when you lead. 
Suppose you hold no winning card in any suit^ but 
possess the losing trump of the two remaining in ; 
the winning trump being in the adversaries' hands. 
You require one trick to save the game, and you 
hold no club. Your partner leads you the king of 
clubs. If he has led from king queen, and the ace 
is against you, the ace would win this trick, your 
trump might be drawn, and the adversaries might 
lead a long suit and win the game. Under such 
circumstances you would be justified in trumping 
the king. If, however your partner had led you 



An Example. 183 

the ace with ace king, yon of course would not 
have trumped the ace. It is therefore usually 
better to play ace then king, instead of king then 
ace, when you or your partner have ruffed a suit, 
to prevent your partner trumping a card which is 
equivalent to the best card in the suit. 

In the play of a hand you must draw your con- 
clusions as to where particular cards are located 
from the best evidence presented to you. But 
be very careful, that you do not allow T a fanciful 
imagination to take the place of fair induction. 
I have lost many a game in consequence of this 
imagination of my partner. The following is a 
case that occurred : — My partner held knave, 
seven of clubs, a small spade, the lower of two 
remaining, a small diamond and a small trump 
(hearts), the lower of two remaining. I held ace 
queen, two of clubs and two small diamonds. My 
right adversary led four of clubs. I played the 
two, fourth hand played the five, and partner won 
with seven. After a little hesitation my partner 
led the small spade ; second hand won with high- 
er spade ; I discarded a diamond, and fourth 
player discarded six of clubs. Right adversary 
then led king of diamonds. His partner took this 
with ace, drew my partner's trump, and made 
the remaining tricks with diamonds. 



184 The Art of Practical Whist. 

" Why did you not lead the club up to the 
weak hand ? " I inquired. 

" Because I thought you must have the other 
spade," was my partner's reply. 

u Why should you think so 1 " 

" Well, I don't know why, but I fancied you 
must have it." 

That is, my partner's fertile imagination, based 
on no evidence, lost a trick. 

This is a very common phase of the bad player ; 
instead of leading cards up to a weak hand, and 
thus giving his partner every opportunity of fines- 
sing, he will imagine some card must he in his 
hand, when there is no evidence to indicate its 
presence, and then will play in such a manner 
that if it is not there, he must give the adver- 
saries a great advantage. 

Your attention in the early part of the play of 
a hand should be given to discover where certain 
cards are situated which have not been played, for 
the advantage gained by good over bad players is 
usually in the last four or five cards. 

You must bear in mind that to play out an ace 
or any other winning card of a suit does not give 
you all the advantages to be derived from this 
card. Your ace, if led, will be played to by the 
adversaries with the lowest cards in their hand. 



Play for Game. 185 

If, however, you remain fourth player and your 
ace is led up to, you not only win with it, but you 
usually capture and destroy the best card in that 
suit, and held by your right adversary. 

If there is any other lead available, I usually 
object to lead king, from king queen and another. 
There are two hands against you to one for you, 
in which the ace may be situated. If you lead the 
king and the ace is against you in either adver- 
sary's hand, you make the queen only. If the 
ace is to your right, you probably make both king 
and queen if you don't lead either. 

You must at all times play your hand with a 
view to save or win the game, or to make a score. 
So that the play of the hand varies according to 
your own or the adversaries' score. 

If, again, you are certain by one system of play 
to reach four, but by another to reach game, or if 
the play fail, to reach only three, play for game 
or three, unless the chances of success are very 
much against you. 

You must expect, if you play at whist much, to 
sometimes win, sometimes lose ; to hold cards far 
above the average some days, and far below the 
average at others. Some players are so consti- 
tuted, that they chuckle and exult when they hold 
four by honours, as though these honours were 



1 86 The Art of Practical Whist. 

some proof of their own skill or power. When, 
however, these same persons have a run of luck 
against them, they look the picture of misery, and 
not uncommonly become unnecessarily fault-find- 
ing. Avoid these manifestations of weakness. 
Whist is a philosophical game, and should be 
played calmly, and without any demonstration. 

Another bad habit, which is not unfrequent 
among some players, is to play their cards, 
whether winning or losing, in very different ways. 
A winning card is banged on the table, whilst a 
losing card is quietly dropped out. Play all cards 
quietly, and in the same manner. 

Some men are so weak, that their countenances 
mirror their hands, and you can tell by an adver- 
sary or a partner's look, whether or not his hand 
is good. It is needless to tell you, such a demon- 
stration gives an adversary a great advantage. 



LETTER XVIII 

THE LAWS OF WHIST. 

It rarely happens that many rubbers of wliist 
are played, especially by inexperienced players, 
without a question or dispute arising as regards 
the penalty which may or can be claimed for 
certain offences. These disputes may usually be 
classed under three heads, yiz.: — 

1st. Those which arise from a want of knowl- 
edge of the rule which distinctly bears 
on the case. 

2nd. From the facts that occurred being ob- 
scure, and it being difficult to decide on 
the actual occurrences. 

3rd. From there being apparently no rule 
which distinctly bears on the special 
case under dispute. 

The most numerous are those coming under the 
head of class 1. I haye, therefore, in the index, 
(Rules) giyen the page and the number of the 



1 88 The Art of Practical Whist. 

rule applying to the most common questions ; and 
I will liere mention what I have found the most 
numerous class of disputes. 

In all the following cases X. and Y. are part- 
ners against A. and B. 

Case I. 

Two cards played at once, the upper card seen, 
the lower card concealed, can both be called. 

Hide. — Both can be called ; the rule distinctly 
says, any card exposed on or above the 
table, even though snatched up so quickly 
as not to be named, is an exposed card, 
and liable to be called. 

Case II. 

A player A. draws a card from his hand, and 
separates it so completely, that he holds it nearly 
a foot from the cards in his hand. One adversary 
X. sees it to be a court card ; the player then 
replaces the card in his hand, and is about to play 
another card, when the adversary X. says, " I call 
your king." The card happened to be the queen. 
A. replies, " I have not the king." " I mean the 
queen," says X., which A. does hold. A. objects 
to this guessing, and refuses to play any but the 
small card. 



Enacting a Penalty, 189 



Rule, — A.'s position is sound ; X. could not 
name the card, but having knave in his 
own hand, it followed that either king or 
queen must be the card partly exposed 
by A. X. guessed, and his guess was 
wrong, so that A. not only is not bound 
to play the queen, after the king had 
been called, but X., from naming a 
wrong card, has rendered himself or his 
partner liable to have a suit called, wdien 
it is next the turn of either to lead. 

Such a dispute as the above could 
only occur with feeble players. A man 
who allows his hand to work before his 
head, is always blundering. To pull out 
a card before you have decided to play 
it, is one of the most silly acts you can 
commit at whist. 

Case III. 

X. and Y., partners against A. and B. — X. 
leads out of turn, wdien it is Y.'s turn to lead. 

A. says " I will leave the penalty to you, partner."" 

B. replies, " Xo I would rather you enacted it." 
X. claims that A. and B. have lost their right to 
enact a penalty, as they have consulted. 

Hale, — Rule 84 says that the partners may 



190 The Art of Practical Whist. 

agree as to who is to enact the penalty, 
and what is agreeing but discussing 
which is to enact it. They cannot lose 
their right to enact a penalty, but X. 
and Y. may claim that as A. decided 
that B. should enact it, B. must do so. 
The usual remark is, " "Will you enact 
the penalty, partner, or shall I.? ' 

Case IV. 

X. Y., partners against A. B. — A. leads nine of 
hearts, X. trumps with ten of clubs, having the 
ace in his hand the turn-up trump. B. plays 
small heart, and Y. says, " They are both ours," 
and puts king of trumps on his partner's ten, and 
throws ace of hearts on the table ; A. and B. 
claim a revoke, Y. says there were only two cards 
in ; his partner held ace of trumps, and when he 
said " Thev are both ours,-' he intended to throw 
down his two cards. 

Ride. — Whatever Y. intended to do, he actu- 
ally played a trump to the heart, and 
then led a heart, and so revoked. The 
most frequent revoke is when only two 
cards remain in, and the players play in 
a hurry. 



Calling a Lead. 191 



Case V. 

X. Y., partners, against A. B. — X. leads five of 

spades when it is A.'s lead. A. leads small spade, 

on which X. plays the five. B. wins this trick 

and the two next. Y. wins the fourth trick, and 

he is then called on by A. to lead a heart. He 

objects, for two reasons: 1st, that X. has got rid 

of his exposed card ; and 2iidly, that as three 

tricks have been won, it is too late to call a lead. 

Rule, — Y.'s objection is ridiculous. Getting 

rid of his exposed card does not prevent 

the other penalty for his offence being 

enacted, viz., calling a suit when it is 

the turn for him or his partner to lead. 

After the offence has been committed, 

A. could not call on X. and Y. to lead a 

suit until it was their turn to lead. 

Case YI. 

A. leads when it is B. his partner s turn to do 
so. X., an adversary, calls for a club from Be 
B. immediately leads a heart, and it is discovered 
that B. held a club. X. claims a revoke (rule 61). 
B. states he did not hear X. call for a heart. A. 
says he did not hear a heart called. Y. says he 
did hear a heart called. 



192 The Art of Practical Whist. 

Rule. — This is coming very close +0 a question 
of facts. Each witness may be con- 
sidered prejudiced, but as Y. was further 
from X. than either A. or B., it ought 
to follow that if he heard the call, A. 
and B. ought to. It is unreasonable to 
assume that A. and B. were deaf, and 
Y. gifted with acute hearing. Although 
two witnesses did not hear, their evidence 
is negative evidence, whereas Y.'s evi- 
dence is positive. The dispute is an 
unpleasant one, and should be guarded 
against by speaking loud enough to pre- 
vent any mistake. 

Case VII. 

X. holds the three best hearts in his hand, 
and one trump diamonds. Y. holds the remain- 
ing trump, the best ; and three losing spades. 
X. savs "The four tricks are mine, the three best 
hearts and the remaining trump." A. and B. 
claim to call these cards and call the trump, by 
which they would win three out of the four tricks. 
X. objects, as he says he should have played the 
three best hearts and then the trump. 

liule. — X.'s objection is unsound, and A. and 
B.'s claim just. X. assumes that his 



Claiming Revoke. 193 



partner could not make a mistake. He 
assumes that if he led a heart, it would 
be impossible that his partner would 
trump it. There is nothing impossible 
in such a proceeding. By naming his 
cards as the best, he cautions his part- 
ner not to make a mistake, and so the 
penalty claimed is sound whist law. 

Case VIII. 

X. and Y. win three tricks. X. then shows four 
by honours, and claims game. A. and B. throw 
down their cards. Then X. and Y. throw theirs 
down — and it is seen that X. had revoked. A. 
and B. claim the revoke, as the cards had not 
been cut for the next deal. X. and Y. say, " As 
the cards were thrown down by A. and B. it is too 
late." 

Hale. — Rule 59 applies. X. and Y. are 
liable to the penalty for a revoke. 

Case IX. 

A. and B. win a certain number of tricks, 
pack them up, and show three by cards. They 
suppose they have won three by cards. They 
claim three by cards and score them. X., who 
is gathering the tricks for his partner, does not 



l 



>_> 



194 The Art of Practical Whist. 

object to the score. Y., however, is lighting a 
cigar during this scoring and until the two packets 
of tricks are mixed. He then says, "What are 
you scoring ? " 

" Three bv cards," remarks A. 
" Only two by cards," says Y. 
Y. then takes the pack, and laying it out in 
fours, says, " You cannot show me how you won 
three by cards." As some of the cards are mixed, 
A. and B. state they are not called upon to prove 
how they won three by cards. They claim that 
their score is correct, and that Y. has no right to 
question the score at this late period. 

Rule. — Y.'s claim is frivolous and vexatious. 
The time to object was when the adver- 
saries were scoring three by cards, and 
before the two packets were mixed. To 
dispute a score after the proof of that 
score is very difficult — is unjust. It 
ought to be made when its proof or dis- 
proof exists. 

Case X. 

A. and B. win two by cards and hold two by 
honours. During the next deal they discuss the play 
of the hand, and before the trump card is turned, 



Claiming Honours. 195 

A. says to B., " Score four." X. turns up the trump 
card, and then says, " "What are you scoring ? " 
" Two by cards and two by honours," replies A. 
u You never called your honours," remarks X. 
" And scoring them is not sufficient." 

Rule. — Case 2 in " Cavendish " applies to this 
case. How could A. and B. be four, 
unless they intimated that the extra two 
above their tricks were honours. X. 
should have questioned the score before 
he turned the trump card, if he were 
really in doubt as to how the score 
was made up. To wait until he has 
turned up the trump card indicates a 
desire to entrap the adversaries on a 
mere technicality. 

Case XL 

A. and B. win the trick and hold two by honours ; 
they score the trick, and X. goes on with the deal. - 
Just as X. is about to turn up the trump card, A. i 
says, " Stop ; are we not two by honours? " Be-l 
fore it is agreed that A. and B. were two by hon- 
ours, X. turns up and quits the trump card, and 
claims that it is too late to score honours. 

Rule. — Immediately a question as to A. and 
B. holding honours was raised, X. should 



196 The Art of Practical Whist. 

have waited to turn up the trump card 
till the question was settled. But A. 
requested X. to stop, which X. did not 
comply with. The fact of his hurrying 
on with the deal, during the discussion 
about honours, does not prevent honours 
from being counted, as A. had claimed 
them before the deal was completed. 

Case XII. 

A. and B. hold two by honours, but make no 
mention of them until X. has turned up the trump 
card, so as to be seen by each player. The card is 
held in his hand, but is not quitted when A. and 
B. say " Two by honours." X. says, " Too late, 
the trump card is turned." (See Rule VI.) 

Rule. — This case occurred at the Halifax 
Club. Upon referring to the Field it 
was decided that the trump card must 
be turned and quitted to render the 
claim for honours invalid. Rule VI., 
therefore, appears misleading, as it there- 
in says, honours, -unless claimed before 
the trump card of the following deal is 
turned tip, cannot be scored. 

The above decision, however, is un- 
doubtedly just, and for the following 



A Misdeal and Honours. 197 

reasons. Suppose the trump card hap- 
pened to be face upwards ; it would 
then be turned and seen as soon as the 
fifty-first card was dealt or removed from 
above it. And under this condition the 
adversaries of the dealer would be too 
late to score honours. Again, the exact 
instant when the trump card is turned 
enough to be exposed, may be a question 
of dispute, but the fact of its being 
turned and quitted is not open to 
dispute. 

Case XIII. 

A. and B. hold two by honours, and win three 
by cards. A., who collected the tricks, mis- 
counted them, and said, "We have just missed 
the game. We are four." A. scored four, and cut 
for X. to deal. X. commenced his deal, and mis- 
dealt. The cards were then cut for B. to deal. 
After the cards were cut, X. remarks, " What do 
vou score ? " 

A. replies, " Two by cards, two by honours." 

"You were three by cards," says X., "but you 
never named or called your honours." 

" Then I will call them now and score game," 
replied A. 



198 The Art of Practical Whist. 

" You cannot score honours now, as I have 

dealt," replied X. 

" You have not dealt, you misdealt," replied A., 

" and I claim to score my honours." 

Rule. — This case occurred at the Club at 
Simla, in 1877. As an outsider the case 
was referred to me. I gave it as my opin- 
ion that a misdeal was no deal, and did 
not invalidate the scoring of honours. 
The case was much discussed and was 
referred home. The decision, however, 
of the home authorities was not' as de- 
cisive as it should or might have been. 
The reason why a misdeal should not 
be considered as a deal, when honours 
are to be counted, is the rapidity with 
which a misdeal may be made. Suppose 
A. and E. held honours, but have not 
named them wlien the cards are cut for 
the next deal. They see there is plenty 
of time to call and score them before 
the trump card is turned and quitted ; 
but X., the dealer, deals the first two cards 
to his left adversary, and the third card 
to his partner, and thus completes a mis- 
deal with the first three cards, and if a 
misdeal were to count as a deal, then A. 



Detached Card. 199 



and B., would in consequence of X. 5 s fault 
and act be deprived of their right to 
score honours — a result which cannot 
be just, and cannot therefore be law. 
Hence I think it always ought to be de- 
cided that a misdeal does not prevent 
honours from being claimed. 

Case XIV. 

A. draws a card from his hand and almost 
touches the table with it, but suddenly changes 
his intention of playing it, and replaces it among 
his other cards. 

X. says, " That is an exposed card, you must 
leave it on the table." 

A. says, " Xame it." 

X. replies, " It is not necessary to name it. 
Rule 56 says, any card in any way exposed on or 
above the table, even though snatched up so 
quickly that no one can name it, is an exposed 
card, liable to be called, and your card was ex 
posed above the table, and though I cannot name 
it, I know it to be a court card." 

A. claims that unless named the card cannot 
be called. 

Rule. — Rules 56 and 60 refer to this case, 
A card detached from the other cards 



200 The Art of Practical Whist. 

but not quitted, is a detached card only. 
If it can be named, it becomes an ex- 
posed card, and liable to be called. 
There is no penalty for a detached card ; 
but to detach a card when you have not 
decided to play it, gives the Bdversaries 
a chance of naming this card, and con- 
verting it into an exposed card, with all 
its penalties. 

Case XV. 

A. played a club to a spade and held a spade. 
His partner asked him if he did not hold a spade. 
" Spade led," replied A., " oh, yes, I have a spade." 
" Play your lowest spade," said X. Whereupon 
A. played the three. "Is that your lowest," re- 
marked A.'s partner. " jNo ; I have the two," 
replied A. He then wished to take up the three 
and play the two ; but X. argued that, by rule 61, 
A. was liable to a penalty for a revoke by playing 
his three, and his two was liable to be called as 
he had named it. What is the law in this 
case ? 

Rule.- -The bearing of law 61 has been much 
discussed, and an able letter from Caven- 
dish in the Fldd, in IS 77, argues the 
case very fairly and justly. Rule 6i 



Is it a Revoke. 201 

says, in no case can a player be com- 
pelled to play a card which would oblige 
him to revoke. If A. were not allowed 
to correct his mistake by playing his two 
and leaving his three an exposed card, 
just as he would be allowed to do if he 
had played a diamond to a heart when 
he held a heart, he would be compelled 
to play a card which would oblige him 
to revoke. Again, rule 73 says, the " re- 
voke is established when the trick in 
which it occurs is turned and quitted.-' 
In case 15, X. claims that the revoke is 
established immediately A. plays the 
three when he holds the two, the act of 
playing being the establishment of the 
revoke, instead of the turning and quit- 
ting of the trick. Taking the bearing 
of rules 64 and 73, it appears that X. 
cannot be supported by the laws as fairly 
interpreted. Again, it is a principle in 
whist law, that the penalty should bear 
some proportion to the offence ; that the 
penalty for a revoke should be claimed 
for playing a three instead of a two 
without power of correcting this error, 
appears giving a very severe punishment 



202 The Art of Practical Whist. 

for a very light offence, and is not just 
according, to whist law. 

Case XVI. 

A. in dealing turns up a card face upwards, he 
turns it face downwards so quickly that neither 
X. nor Y. knows what the card was. They ask 
A. what the card was which was exposed, and in 
his partner's pack. A. asserts he is not compelled 
to name it. 

Rale. — A.'s proceeding is an attempt at un- 
fairness. He must have seen the card, 
and thus knows one card in his partner's 
hand, and yet he refuses to give the 
information obtained by his own clumsy 
dealing to his adversaries. A. is not 
warranted in concealing from the adver- 
saries the value of the exposed card, and 
thus not giving the adversaries the option 
of a fresh deal. 

Case XVII. 

A., whose turn it is to lead, leads the ace and 
two of clubs, both cards falling together on the 
table. X. calls the two of clubs as the lead, and 
requests the ace be left as an exposed card on the 
table. X. wins the two of clubs with his queen, 



Unjust Claim. 203 

plays a thirteenth heart, and calls the ace of clubs 
on it. Can X. enact these penalties ? 

Hide. — Certainly. Both the ace and two are 
exposed cards ; either can be called for the 
lead, and the other called at any time. X. 
is acting strictly by rule in what he does. 

Case XVIII. 

A. leads, B., his partner, plays before X. the 
second player, and Y. also plays before X. A 
says to X., " Don't win the trick, your partner has 
played before yon." By rule 68, Y. was justified 
in playing before X., because B. had played 
before X. Is there no penalty that can be inflicted 
on A. for attempting to enact a penalty to which 
he is not entitled ? 

There is no other penalty for attempting to 
claim that to which you are not entitled, 
other than the ridicule which a man 
naturally deserves who shows his ignor- 
ance of the laws of a game that he has 
probably played for years. 

Case XIX. 

Inquiry : I have been witness during the past 
two months as a bystander to the following cases 
at whist, and it appears to me, that further 



204 The Art of Practical Whist. 

legislation is required as to this particular point. 
A. and B. were partners, A. dealt, and his deal 
was so slovenly that he took up one of his partner's 
cards with his own ; he thus held fourteen cards, 
his partner twelve. The adversaries having each 
thirteen, had no means of knowing the state of the 
adversaries' hands. A. won the first trick, he then 
played ace king, of a plain suit, and laid down the 
four honours in trumps and claimed game. He 
and his partner, as well as the adversaries, threw 
their cards on the table, when thev were all 
mixed, and the adversaries never had a chance 
of discovering the defects in A. and B.'s hands. 
On the second occasion four other players were 
playing when a similar occurrence took place, 
with the exception, that A. and B. (A. being 
the dealer who took up one of his partners cards) 
held no winning cards, whilst X. and Y. held two 
by honours, and won three bv cards. But towards 
the end of the hand, A. announced that he had 
four cards in his hand, and his partner only two, 
so, by Rule 44, it was a misdeal, and X. and Y. 
can score nothing. So that A.'s carelessness pre- 
vented X. and Y. scoring game. Is there no 
penalty for such an offence ? 

Rule. — As the laws at present stand, X. and 
Y. in the first case might have requested 



Four te e7i Cards. 205 

A. and B. to lay their remaining cards 
on the table, when, by counting, they 
would have discovered that one must 
have held fourteen, the other onlv twelve 
cards, consequently A. and B. were not 
entitled to score anvthing. In the 
second case there was no remedv. It 
was a hard case that X. and Y., by a 
fault of A., should not be allowed to 
score their game. Still such is the law 
at present. I cannot but think that 
additional legislation on this point might 
be made, and probably in the following 
manner. The dealer is responsible that 
he deals thirteen cards to each player. 
Each player must be responsible that he 
hold no more and no less than thirteen. 
If two partners hold twenty-six cards be- 
tween them, one holding more, the other 
less than thirteen, whilst the adversaries 
hold thirteen each, no score made by 
the partners holding the unequal number 
of cards can be counted in that hand, 
Avhereas any score made by the partners 
holding thirteen each can be counted. 
Such a law would at once meet the case. 
The three cards in last part of the hand, 



206 The Ari of Practical Whist. 

viz., three in say A.'s hand and one in B.'s 
being played so that the last card in A.'s 
hand is allotted to B., but does not render 
him liable to a revoke. There might 
thus result a heavy penalty for playing 
with fourteen cards in one hand and 
twelve in the partner's hand. The 
question is, I think, worth considering. 

Case XX. 

A. revokes, X. at end of hand, says, "I will 
take three tricks from A.'s packet and add them 
to my own." 

" You can't do that," remarks A., " it is making 
a double penalty. I will bet five pounds you 
cannot." 

X. makes no remark but leaves the room, and 
brings in " Cavendish on Whist," and shows A. 
rule 72, by which X.'s claim is correct. X. then 
says, " That is five pounds you owe me." 

" You never took the bet," remarks A. " You 
said nothing, and therefore it is no bet." X. 
claims it as a bet. 

Hide. — Although the dispute is relative to a 
whist law, the question is one more 
nearly connected with the laws of betting. 
A. offered a bet of five pounds, X. said 



Unsatisfactory Proceedings. 207 

nothing, neither did the other players, 
neither probably did a dozen bystanders. 
Each player and bystander might there- 
fore claim five pounds. This is unfor- 
tunately a by no means uncommon 
proceeding with some persons, the bet 
is loosely made, and after the point is 
decided, a claim is made or disputed. 
To have made this bet binding on A., X., 
before leaving the room should have 
said, " I feel certain I am right in my 
claim, and I accept your bet if you are 
equally certain," an assent from A. would 
then have made it a bet. To leave the 
room without speaking, and to look at 
the law in the book, gives a slight 
suspicion that it was a case of " If I'm 
right I win five pounds, if wrong it's no 
bet." 
On one occasion I was witness of a somewhat sim- 
ilar proceeding. A player, A., dropped two cards, 
X. claimed them as exposed cards. A. positively 
asserted that X. could call one only as he intended 
to lead the other. X. as proof of his being right 
said, " I will bet you a thousand pounds to one I can 
call both." " I will take that bet," remarked A. The 
law was referred to, and X. was shown to be correct. 



208 The Art of Practical Whist. 

" A pound I win," remarked X. " Xonsense," 
replied A., " you were .certain of the law, it was 
only a joke and no bet." If X. had been wrong, 
it might be interesting to know if A. would have 
considered it a joke. 

Case XXI. 

A. holds ace, king, and two small trumps, turns 
up the ace, and when it is his lead leads the king. 
Y., his right hand adversary, without waiting for 
X. or B. to play, plays the two of another suit. A. 
says to X., " Play your highest trump." X. as- 
serts the demand is illegal, that no rule obliges 
him to play his highest under these conditions. 
AVhat is the rule ? 

Rule 68 says that X. could be called on to 
win or not to win the trick ; it does not 
say he can be called on to play his highest. 
The penalty in this case differs from the 
penalty for the offence named in Rule $6, 
where a piayer may be called on to win 
or refrain from winning, or to play the 
highest or lowest of the suit led. Con- 
sequently there appears to be no penalty 
for this offence. Yet the act of Y. gives 
X. an advantage ; he knows Y. holds no 
trump, consequently he might play to 



Penalty at Dummy. 209 

advantage a card which he would not 
think of doing had he been unaware of 
the fact revealed by his partner. It may 
admit of question whether the same 
penalty ought not to exist in Rule 68 as 
exists in Rule 86. 

Case XXII. 

A. is playing with a dummy against X. and Y. 
It is X.'s lead, but A. leads the three of hearts 
(trumps), X. makes no remark, but leads the six of 
hearts, Dummy plays seven, Y. plays eight, and 
calls the three of hearts. A. takes up the three of 
hearts and wins the trick with the nine of hearts, 
and shows the rule to X. and Y., that he is not 
liable to a penalty for exposing his card. Y. then 
says we will have a lead then from you, lead a 
club. A. objects, and says, having elected to call 
the three of hearts, you cannot now change and 
call a uit. What is the law ? 

Rule. — The call of the three of hearts was 
illegal. There is no such penalty for A. 
as exposing a card. There is no law by 
which A. could be called on for a suit 
when it is his lead, as the rule for 
Dummy says — " If, however, he lead 
from Dummy's hand when he should lead 



210 The Art of Practical Whist. 

from his own, vice versa, a suit may be 
called from the hand which ought to have 
led." But it says nothing about a penalty 
for Dummy or Dummy's partner leading 
when it is the adversary's lead, although 
it seems reasonable that some penalty 
ought to be instituted. 

Case XXIII. 

The players hold four cards each, A. and B. 
have won only one trick. It is Y.'s lead, and X. 
says, now you cannot win another trick. A. offers 
to bet he can win another trick, which bet X. 
accepts. Y. leads ace of hearts, which A. wins 
with the two of trumps, and X. then shows the 
three remaining trumps, and on looking into A.'s 
hand it is found he revoked when he trumped the 
heart. Does A. win his bet ? 

Hide. — A.'s act is very much like the act of a 
sharper. A. and B. having gained only 
two tricks three tricks cannot be taken 
from them, otherwise A. might have been 
caught in his own snare. X.'s bet re- 
ferred undoubtedly to winning every trick 
by fair means, not by foul, and amongst 
honest players the bet would be given in 
favour of X. 



Exposed Trump Card, 211 

Case XXIV. 

It is B.'s lead, at the commencement of a hand. 
A. says, "It is no matter what you play, I have 
game in my hand." X. then requests A. to lay 
down his hand, which A. refuses, as he asserts the 
demand is illegal. What is the rule ? 

Rule. — There is no penalty for saying I have 
game in my hand, the remark is against 
etiquette, and it rarely saves time to make 
such a remark, a little patience would 
soon have revealed the fact to the adver- 
saries, who would then probably have 
thrown up their cards. 

Case XXV. 

A. deals and turns up queen of spades, and al- 
lows this trump card to remain on the table after 
the second trick is turned and quitted. X. leads 
ace of spades at the third trick, and calls the 
queen of spades on the trick. A. says, "Well, 
I will play it, but it's sharp practice." An opinion 
is requested. 

The whole question indicates the tyro, and shows 
that the disputants were very young. 

Rale 52 says, that the trump card is liable to 
be called if left on the table after the first 



212 The Art of Practical Whist. 

trick is turned and quitted. A. left it 
till after the second trick was turned and 
quitted. Does A. consider that if trumps 
had not been led he might have left his 
queen exposed till the eighth or ninth 
trick had been won ? It is certainly not 
usual to call the trump card if left after 
the first trick is turned, but the rule posi- 
tively states it may be called when so 
left. After the second trick it deserves 
to be called, even in order to cure A. of 
such slack habits. Leaving the trump 
card exposed indicates negligence. The 
remark about sharp practice indicates a 
bad temper, and both are amongst the 
worst faults of a whist player. 

Case XXVI. 

A. B. and X. T. enter a club card room and 
draw for partners. A. deals, and during the deal 
C. enters the room ; he says I thought I should 
have been in time to cut. He then walks out of 
the room. In two hands A. and B. win a bumper. 
C. is not in the room, so A. says what are we to 
do. 

" Cut again for partners, I suppose," said X. 

They draw, and A and X. are now partners. 



Exposed Card. 213 

They take their seats and A. commences dealing, 
when C. again enters the room, and remarks that 
he has been cut out of the rubber, and that it was 
a hard case. An opinion is requested. 

Rule, — A. B. X. Y. were not bound to go in 
search of C. He left the room without 
any directions to the players. If he run 
the risk of staying away long enough for 
the rubber to be won, he ought to have 
asked one of the players to draw a card 
for him for the next rubber, and also 
asked that he might be sent for, the 
whole dispute is due to C.'s negligence 
and the four players cannot be accused of 
making a hard case for him, as he never 
even intimated that he would play in the 
next rubber. 

Case XXYIL 

A. drops a card face upwards on the table. 
When it is A.'s turn to play the adversaries call 
on him to lead this card. Is not this calling a 
lead, which is a penalty that cannot be exacted 
for an exposed card. 

Rule — It is calling the exposed card, which 
card can be called at any time ; that it 
can be called when it is A.'s lead is not 



214 The Art of Practical Whist. 

the same thing as calling a lead. When 
a player has rendered himself liable to 
have a lead called you can call any suit. 
In this case you only call an exposed card. 

Case XXVIII. 

A. plays with dummy against X. and Y. It is 
dummy's lead, but A. leads ace of clubs. X. stops 
A. and reminds him it is dummy's lead. A. with- 
out haste plays from dummy's hand the king of 
clubs. X. calls A.'s ace on the king, and finding 
he cannot exact this penalty calls a suit from 
dummy. What is the law ? 

Rule. — X. is too late, the time to call a lead 
was when dummy led the king of clubs, 
that is, X. can call a lead from the hand 
which ought to have led, but not after 
he has allowed this hand to lead. 

Case XXIX. 

A. says, " You need not play ; look at my hand." 
He lowers his hand, but does not quit it, and 
shows four honours in trumps and an ace, king, 
queen suit. X. and Y. claim to call his cards, X. 
holding no card of the suit in which A. had ace, 
king, queen. Can they do so. 

Rule. — There is no penalty for lowering the 



Dummy. 215 

hand so that even your partner sees it, 
though such a proceeding is most irregu- 
lar and in many cases may give your 
partner a great advantage. There appear 
some grounds for instituting additional 
legislation as regards lowered hands, 
some cases at present appearing very 
unsatisfactory. 

Case XXX. 

■ 

A card from dummy's hand is dropped on the 
floor, its absence not noticed till half of the hand 
is played. What is the penalty. 

Rule.— The card is restored to dummy's hand. 
No penalty for revoke. 

Case XXXI. 

Dummy omits to play to a trick. Is there any 
penalty. 

Hide, — The same penalty as at whist. Rule 69. 



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honest a rogue as ever happy fancy invented ; and all the secondary bits of life 
and character in the home-country are admirable." — Blackwood's Magazine. 

" Pre-eminent for his mirth-moving powers, for his acute sense of the ridic- 
ulous, for the breadth of his humor, and for his power of dramatic writings 
which renders his boldest conceptions with the happiest facility" — London 
Athenaeum. 



LEVER'S NOVELS. 

THE "HARRY LORREQUER" EDITION. 

A New Edition, printed from new plates, in a large, clear type, on 
fine paper. Each volume containing six page illustrations from designs 
by Cruikshank, Browne, and other artists. 

26 volumes, i2mo, cloth (in boxes), per set, .... $32 50 

half calf, per set, . . . . . . 78 00 

Cloth, per volume, . 1 25 

HARRY LORREQUER. FORTUNES OF GLENCORE. 

CHARLES O'MALLEY. LORD KILGOBBIN, 

TOM BURKE OF OURS. LUTTRELL OF ARRAN. 

DODD FAMILY ABROAD. SIR JASPER CAREW. 

DAVENPORT DUNN. MAURICE TIERNAY. 

THE DALTONS. A DAY'S RIDE. 

JACK HINTON. ONE OF THEM. 

THE KNIGHT OF GWYNNE. BRAMLEIGHS OF BISHOP'S FOLLY.. 

CON CREGAN. SIR BROOKE FOSSBROOKE. 

ARTHUR O'LEARY. THAT BOY OF NORCOTT'S. 

ROLAND CASHEL. BARRINGTON. 

MARTINS OF CRO' MARTIN. TONY BUTLER. 

THE O'DONOGHUE. HORACE TEMPLETON. 



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MACDONALD'S NOVELS. 



M The books are of their own kind. One cannot read them without being 
stimulated to something nobler and purer, for they may honestly be called 
both. They are a mine of original and quaint similitudes, and their deep 

perceptions of human nature are certainly remarkable On the 

whole, Mr. George Mac Donald is a power already, and will soon be a greater 
one. . . . Let it stand to his credit that, in an age of loose literature, he 
is, like Scott, and Dickens, and Thackeray, pure-minded. He writes better 
English {because more imaginative and loftier) than Charles Reade, or any 
of that ilk. And while Wilkie Collins outdoes him in plot, he outdoes IVilkie 
Collins and the rest of the plotters in delicacy and sweetness of touch. Should 
George MacDonald rise hereafter above this present point, high and good as it 
is, he will merit and receive distinguished praise. And, as a man hardly at 
the entrance of middle life, there is no reason why this sheuld not be. His 
hand has not lost its cunning* and his eye is still undimmed." — Scribner's 
Monthly. 



GEORGE MACDONALD'S NOVELS. 



ANNALS OF A QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD. 
Crown 8vo, cloth, $i 75. 

' "ft is as full of music as was Prosperous Island ; rich in strains that take 
the ear captive and linger long upon it." — Saturday Review. 

u 'Whoever reads the story once will read it many times ; it shows an almost 
supernatural insight into the workings of the htiman heart." — Pall Mall 
Gazette. 

THE SEABOARD PARISH. 

A Sequel to "Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood." 

Crown 8vo, cloth, $1 75. 

"A story of the very highest order, full of deep and healthy truth, told in 
the most genial way ; a story to be read thoughtfully, slowly, lovingly." — Bir- 
mingham Daily Post. 

THOMAS WINGFOLD, CURATE. 
Crown 8vo, cloth, $1 75. 
" There is no literature better than this. 1 ''— Illustrated Times. 
"Uses his captivating pen for the dissemination of some of the richest 
truths of the Christian system." — Christian News. 



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paid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the price. 



- 



MARRYAT'S NOVELS. 



" His stories of the sea are unquestionably the first in their peculiar line." — 
Dublin University Magazine. 

" The novels of Captain Marry at are the best of nautical romances." — H. T. 

TUCKERMAN. 

" Captain Marryat's productions are happy in more senses than one ; he employs 
neither the effort nor the prolixity of Cooper ; his conception of character is so 
facile and felicitoiis that his Personages immediately become our i7itimate acquaint- 
ance, and astonish us by their faithful resemblance to whole classes of beings simi- 
larly situated. Captain Marry af s humor is genuine; it flows naturally, and 
insensibly communicates to the reader the gayety the author himself seems animated 
7uith." — Westminster Review. 



CAPTAIN MARRYAT'S NOVELS. 

NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 

Printed from large, clear type, on fine paper. Each volume containing 
six or more full-page illustrations. 



24 volumes, i2mo, cloth (in boxes), per set, 

— half calf, extra, per set, . 

Cloth, per volume, ..... 



$30 00 

72 00 

1 25 



THE KING'S OWN. 

FRANK MILDMAY. 

PERCIVAL KEENE. 

THE PHANTOM SHIP. 

THE DOG FIEND. 

JACOB FAITHFUL. 

THE POACHER 

THE PACHA OF MANY TALES. 

JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A 

FATHER. 
RATTLIN THE REEFER. 
MIDSHIPMAN EASY. 
PETER SIMPLE. 



NEWTON FOSTER. 

VALERIE. 

OLLA PODRIDA. 

MONSIEUR VIOLET. 

THE PIRATE AND THREE 

CUTTERS. 
CHILDREN of the NEW FOREST. 
SETTLERS IN CANADA. 
POOR JACK. 
THE PRIVATEERSMAN. 
THE MISSION. 
THE LITTLE SAVAGE. 
MASTERMAN READY. 



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FIELDING'S AND SMOLLETT'S NOVELS. 



" Smollett and Fielding were so eminently successful as novelists, that no 
other English author of that class has a right to be mentioned in the sajne 
breath. We readily grant to Smollett an equal rank with his great rival, 
Fielding,— while we place both far above any of their successors in the same 
line of fictitious composition. Perhaps no books ever written excited such 
peals of inextinguishable laughter as those of Smollett."— Sm Walter Scott. 

" Fielding is the first of the British novelists. His na?ne is immortal as a 
painter of natural manners. In his powers of strong and natural humor, 
and forcible yet natural exhibition of character, the father of the English 
novel has not yet been approached even by his most successful followers. He is, 
indeed, as Byron terms him—' The prose Homer of human nature? "—Sir 
Walter Scott. 



FIELDING'S AND SMOLLETT'S NOVELS. 

ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 

Each volume containing eight full-page illustrations by celebrated 
artists. 

6 volumes, i2mo, cloth (in boxes), per set, $7 5° 



Cloth, per volume, 



i 25 



FIELDING. SMOLLETT. 

TOM JONES. RODERICK RANDOM. 

JOSEPH ANDREWS. PEREGRINE PICKLE. 

AMELIA. HUMPHREY CLINKER. 



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BEACONSFIELD'S NOVELS. 



11 Full of charming effects of style and fine delineations. The descriptions of 
Oriental life are only to be compared with those of Anastasius or Ed'then." — 
Edinburgh Review. 

"In whatever point of view we examine these works, they command unmixed 
admiration. Admirable as novels of real life, as pictures of English society, as 
expositions of political parties and principles, as a gallery of living portraits. The 
recommendation of such novels to our readers would be a work of supererogation." 
— Court Journal. 

" These volumes abound with passages not surpassed for their beauty in our 
literature. Delicacy and sweetness are mitigled with impressive eloqitence and 
energetic truth. The magic of the style simply consists in the emotions of the 
writer. He is a thinker who makes others think ; and these volumes will be re- 
perused at intervals with the delight of novelty." — London Monthly Review. 



EARL BEACONSFIELD'S NOVELS. 

STANDARD EDITION. 

Printed from large, clear type, on fine paper. 



10 volumes, i2mo, cloth (in box), per set, 

■ half calf, extra, per set, 

Cloth, per volume, ..... 



$12 50 

30 00 

1 25 



i 



LOTHAIR. 
CONINGSBY. 
SYBIL. 
TANCRED. 
ALROY. 

IXION IN HEAVEN. 
INFERNAL MARRIAGE. 
j^POPANILLA. 



VIVIAN GREY. 

VENETIA. 

HENRIETTA TEMPLE. 
{ CONTARINI FLEMING. 
(THE RISE OF ISKANDER. 
( THE YOUNG DUKE. 
"( COUNT ALARCOS. 



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paid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the price. 



THE ENGLISH NOVELISTS. 



Printed in a convenient, portable size, strongly bound in cloth or half 

roxburghe, each set in a neat paper box. The Editions 

advertised on this page are sold in sets only. 



AINSWORTH (WILLIAM H.). 17 volumes, i6mo, cloth $1200 

Windsor Castle. Guy Fawkes. Crichton. 

Ovingdean Grange. Spendthrift. Auriol. 

Lancashire Witches. Old St. Paul's. St. James's. 

Tower of London. Mervyn Clitheroe. Jack Sheppard. 

Flitch of Bacon. Star Chamber. James II. 

Miser's Daughter. Rookwood. 

AUSTEN (JANE). 5 volumes, i6mo, cloth 4 00 

Pride and Prejudice. Mansfield Park. Northanger Abbey. ) 

Sense and Sensibility. Emma. Persuasion. ) 

BRONTE (CHARLOTTE and ANNE). 7 volumes, i6mo, cloth 8 75 

Jane Eyre. Villette. Wuthering Heights. 

Professor. Wildfell Hall. Life of Charlotte Bronte. 

Shirley. 

CARLETON (WILLIAM). 5 volumes, i6mo, cloth 3 75 

Fardorougha. The Clarionet. Jane Sinclair. ) 

The Tithe-Proctor. The Emigrants. Xeal Malone. ) 

CHAMIER (CAPTAIN). 4 volumes, i 2 mo, cloth 500 

Ben Brace. Jack Adams Life of a Sailor. 

Tom Bowling. 

COCKTON (HENRY). 3 volumes, i6mo, half roxburghe 3 75 

Valentine Vox. George Julian. Stanley Thorne. 

DICKENS (CHARLES). 21 volumes bound in 16, iamo, cloth (with 168 

illustrations) 16 00 

Pickwick Papers. Oliver Twist. > Christmas Stories. 

David Copperfield. Tale of Two Cities. ) Hard Times. ) 

Our Mutual Friend. Barnaby Rudge. Great Expectations. ) 

Dombey and Son. Nicholas Nickleby. Sketches. ) 

Bleak House. Martin Chuzzlewit. Christmas Books. ) 

Old Curiosity Shop. American Notes. ) Edwin Drood. ^ 

Little Dorrit. Uncommercial Traveller ) Child's History of £ 

England. j 



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THE ENGLISH NOVELISTS. 



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EDGEWORTH (MARIA). 4 volumes, i6mo, cloth $300 

Manoeuvring. Ennui. Vivian. 

Madame de Fleury. Emilie de Coulanges. Almeria. 

The Dun. Absentee. 

EDGEWORTH (MARIA). Illustrated Edition. 10 volumes, i6mo, cloth.. 1500 

Moral Tales. Castle Rackrent. Patronage. 2 vols. 

Popular Tales. Irish Bulls. Harrington. 

Belinda. Fashionable Life. Helen. 

FERRIER (MISS). 3 volumes, i6mo, half roxburghe 375 

The Inheritance. Marriage. Destiny. 

GERSTAECKER (FREDERICK). 4 volumes, i6mo, half roxburghe 500 

The Two Convicts. Each for Himself. A Wife to Order. 

The Feathered Arrow. 

GRANT (JAMES). 35 volumes, i6mo, cloth 43 75 

The Romance of War. Mary of Lorraine. The Girl he Married. 

The Aid-de-Camp. The Captain of the Guard. Lady Wedderburn's 

The Scottish Cavalier. Lucy Arden. Wish. 

Jane Seton Oliver Ellis. Only an Ensign. 

Philip Rollo. Letty Hyde's Lovers. Shall I Win Her ? 

Arthur Blane. Second to None. Fairer than a Fairy. 

The Highlanders of Glen The Constable of France. Secret Dispatch. 

Ora. The Phantom Regiment. Jack Manly. 

Frank Hilton. The King's Own Borderers. Dick Rodney. 

The Yellow Frigate. The Cavaliers of Fortune. Rob Roy. 

Harry Ogilvie. The White Cockade. Under the Red Dragon. 

Legends of the Black Watch. First Love and Last Love. The Queen's Cadet. 
Bothwell. 

GRIFFIN (GERALD). 3 volumes, i6mo, cloth 225 

The Munster Festivals. The Rivals. The Collegians. 



L 



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"GUY LIVINGSTONE "-- Novels by the Author of. 8 volumes, 121110, half 

roxburghe $ xo °° 

Guy Livingstone. Breaking a Butterfly. Maurice Dering. 

Sword and Gown. Barren Honor. Anteros. 

Sans Merci. Brakespeare. 

HALIBURTON (JUDGE). 3 volumes, i2mo, half roxburghe 3 75 

Sam Slick in England. The Clockmaker. The Letter-Bag of the 

Great Western. 

HOOK (THEODORE). 15 volumes, i6mo, half roxburghe 1875 

Gilbert Gurney. Passion and Principle. All in the Wrong. 

Gurney Married. Fathers and Sons. Man of Many Friends. 

Merton. Cousin Geoffrey. The Widow and the 

Cousin William. Maxwell. Marquess. 

Gervase Skinner. Peregrine Bunce. The Parson's Daughter. 
Jack Brag. 

HOOK (THEODORE) SAYINGS AND DOINGS. 5 volumes, i6mo, 

half roxburghe 6 2 5 

Passion and Principle. Cousin William. Merton. 

Man of Many Friends. Gervase Skinner. 

KINGSLEY (HENRY). 8 volumes, iamo, half roxburghe 1000 

Austin Elliot The Harveys. The Hillyars and the 

Geoffry Hamlyn. Stretton. Burtons. 

Leighton Court. Ravenshoe. Silcote of Silcote's. 

LOVER (SAMUEL). 4 volumes, i2mo, cloth 4 00 

Handy Andy. Irish Stories and Legends. He would be a Gen- 

Rory O'More. tleman - 

MAXWELL (WILLIAM H.). 10 volumes, i6mo, half roxburghe 1250 

Hector O'Halloran. The Bivouac. Flood and Field. 

Stories of Waterloo. Luck is Everything. Peninsular War. 

Captain Blake. Highlands of Scotland. Captain O' Sullivan. 

Wild Sports of the West 

RICHARDSON (SAMUEL). 3 volumes, 121110, cloth 3 75 

Clarissa Harlowe. Sir Charles Grandison. Pamela. 



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THE ENGLISH NOVELISTS. 



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advertised on this page are sold in sets only. 

SMEDLEY (FRANK E.). 4 volumes, nmo, cloth $600 

Frank Fairlegh. Lewis Arundel. The Colville Family. 

Harry Coverdale. 

SMITH (ALBERT). 5 volumes, i6mo, half roxburghe --- 625 

The Adventures of Mr. The Pottleton Legacy. Christopher Tadpole. 

Ledbury. The Scattergood Family. Marchioness of Brin- 

villiers. 

TROLLOPE (ANTHONY). 22 volumes, i2mo, cloth 27 50 

He Knew He was Right. The Bertrams. Rachel Ray. 

Can You Forgive Her ? Mary Gresley. Ralph the Heir. 

The Macdermots of Bally- Doctor Thome. The Eustace Diamonds. 

cloran. Orley Farm. La Vendee. 

The Kelly's and the O'Kel- Phineas Finn. Lady Anna. 

ly's. Lotta Schmidt. Phineas Redux. 

Tales of all Countries Miss Mackenzie. The Vicar of Bullhamp- 

The Belton Estate. Castle Richmond. ton. 

The Golden Lion of 
Granpere. 

VERNE (JULES). 12 volumes, i6mo, cloth 9 60 

The English at the North A Floating City. A Voyage Round the 

Pole. The Blockade Runners. World. South America. 

The Field of Ice. Twenty Thousand A Voyage Round the 

Journey to the Centre of Leagues under the World. Australia, 

the Earth. Sea. Part I. A Voyage Round the 

Five Weeks in a Balloon. Twenty Thousand World. New Zealand. 

From the Earth to the Leagues under the Round the World in 

Moon. Sea. Part II. Eighty Days. 

WHITEFRIARS (Author of ) Novels and Tales. 8 volumes, i6mo, cloth 10 00 

Caesar Borgia. Whitehall. Maid of Orleans. 

Madelein Graham. Whitefriars. Gold Worshippers. 

Owen Tudor. Westminster Abbey. 

YATES (EDMUND), n volumes, i2mo, cloth 13 75 

Running the Gauntlet. Righted Wrong. A Waiting Race. 

Kissing the Rod. Land at Last. The Impending Sword. 

Black Sheep. The Rock Ahead. The Yellow Flag. 

Broken to Harness. The Forlorn Hope. 



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ROUTLEDGE'8 STANDARD NOVELS. 

EACH VOLUME ILLUSTRATED. 



In the following list, the publishers have selected the representative 
works of the greatest masters of fiction, and have issued them in a special 
style, nicely and clearly printed, with six page-illustrations in each vol- 
ume. i2mo, cloth, per volume, $1.25. 

HANDY ANDY. By Samuel Lover. 

u This boy Handy will be the death of us. What is the police about, to 
allow the uttering of a publication that has already brought us to the brink of 
apoplexy fifty times ?" — Sporting Review. 

CHARLES O'MALLEY. By Charles Lever. 

" Mr. Lever is not only exceedingly popular with readers at large, but his 
exuberant jollity has achieved a great triumph in overcoming the gravity even 
of the sternest of the rigid tribe of reviewers." — Allibone^s Dictionary of 
A uthors. 

MONTE CRISTO. By Alexandre Dumas. 

" * Monte Cristo' is Dumas' best production, and the work that will convey 
his name to the remembrance of future generations as a writer." 

VALENTINE VOX. By Henry Cockton. 

11 It abounds in droll scenes, which will keep the most melancholy reader in 
a side-aching fit of laughter as long as he has the book in hii hands." — London 
Times. 

TOM JONES. By Henry Fielding. 

"As a picture of manners, the novel of ' Tom Jones ' is indeed exquisite ; as 
a work of construction, quite a wonder. The by-play of wisdom, the power of 
observation, the multiplied felicitous turns of thought, the varied character of 
the great comic epic, keep the reader in a perpetual admiration and curiosity." 
— Thackeray. 

FRANK FAIRLEGH. By Frank B. Smedley. 

U A most entertaining story. We are deligfited with its characters and inci- 
dents, and charmed with its pleasing glimpses of English life and scenery." 

THE WANDERING JEW. By Eugene Sue. 
THE MYSTERIES OF PARIS. By Eugene Sue. 

These two great classics of French fiction now occupy an enduring and 
prominent place in the field of imaginative literature. 



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Paid, to any part 0/ the United States, on receipt 0/ the price. 



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